


Quarian Directives

by NakedOwlMan



Series: Device Stories [5]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Corruption, Dom/sub, Exhibitionism, Gangbang, Hypnotism, Latex, Master/Slave, Mind Control, Multi, Pheromones, Rape, Spanking, Strap-Ons, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-11-27 06:01:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 23
Words: 72,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/658731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NakedOwlMan/pseuds/NakedOwlMan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After humanity has burned her one too many times, Tali begins to plot her revenge, with the help of a odd device.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Few Harmless Pranks

**Author's Note:**

> A fill in progress for the Mass Effect Kink Meme, in response to http://masseffectkink.livejournal.com/3083.html?thread=6576907

One of her wrenches was missing.  
  
Crouching on the floor by a loosened panel, Tali frowned as she stared at the empty space in her toolbox. She always took good care of her tools. Always returned them to their proper place after she was finished with them. Not having the right tool in your hand when a crisis situation came up on the Migrant Fleet could be a disaster, and old habits die hard.  
  
The Migrant Fleet. It made her heart ache to think about it. But she focused herself back on her work; it was the only thing that kept her going these days.  
  
On her hands and knees, she scoured the deck for any sign of the missing implement. Running her fingers through every groove, any possible crevice it could have fallen, turned up nothing.  
  
"Hey, Tali," said Gabby as she walked in. "Missing something?"  
  
"Have you or Ken been using any of my tools?" Tali asked.  
  
Gabby shook her head. "I know I haven't. And Ken usually makes me do any of the manual stuff, so I doubt he would have. You missing something?"  
  
"It's nothing. Just forget it," Tali said, unable to keep the melancholy out of her voice.  
  
"You sure?" Gabby asked, and when Tali nodded, she walked away.  
  
It wasn't here, Tali concluded after almost twenty minutes of searching. Somebody had taken it, she was sure of that. Getting to her feet, she steeled herself before making her way to the stairs leading down to the lower deck. She was halfway down when she heard Jack's voice.  
  
"Dammit! Was so close! I could have done so much with that thing! Shown the cheerleader a thing or two about what it means to fuck with me, could have..." Jack's ranting to herself was interrupted as she whirled to face her visitor. "What the hell do you want, buckethead?"  
  
"Jack, I..." Tali summoned up all her courage. "I'm missing one of my wrenches. Did you take it?"  
  
Jack snarled at Tali. "Yeah, you bet your ass I did! In between all the world-saving missions Shepard has me go on, I like to steal your useless fucking tools for shits and giggles!" Jack gave Tali a light shove. "Get the fuck out of here. I haven't touched your shit."  
  
Making her way back up the stairs, Tali looked over the room again. "Maybe I left it on Deck 3," she muttered to herself. She had been doing some repair work earlier around the ship. Maybe she'd dropped it and not noticed.  
  
Letting out another frustrated sigh, she made her way to the lift. When the doors slid open on deck 3, she saw Kelly chatting with Jacob as they waited to ride up.  
  
"...don't know what I can say to her," Kelly was saying. "She was obviously devastated after what happened, but she doesn't want to talk about it."  
  
"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll get over it," Jacob said. "Tali's a professional, and she knows how important this..." Finally sensing the door open, Jacob bit his lip as Tali stepped off the lift and brushed past them without a word.  
  
As she stepped into the mess hall, she could feel the conversations in the room die. All of them trying to remain casual, but doing a terrible job at it. She ignored it, searching around a conduit she'd been working on earlier in the day, and finding no sign of her missing wrench.  
  
She drifted into the med-bay in her searching, Dr. Chakwas having a quiet discussion with Mordin. "Don't mind me," Tali said as she walked in. "Just looking for one of my tools."  
  
The two of them continued their conversation. "Extremely dangerous device Jack discovered," Mordin was saying to Chakwas. "Lucky we found out about it before she had a chance to put it to use."  
  
"You're saying that this device controls human minds?" Chakwas said in horror.  
  
"Shadow Broker attempted to use on drell, but subject non-responsive. Believe human mind similar enough that device would function on your race. In theory, device would bring subconscious to forefront, allow user to plant thoughts, manipulate wants and desires. Could grant user total control over any human's mind."  
  
Sounds good to me, Tali thought, as she continued her search. Wish I'd had one of those before...  
  
"So what are you planning to do with it?" Chakwas asked.  
  
"Still running tests. Reason I came to speak with you," Mordin replied. "Would like you to perform complete mental scan on several patients during next check-up. Data should allow me to study device further without actually using on human."  
  
Tali left them to their medical talk, walking out the medical bay and back through the mess hall. The crew pretended again not to notice her, but she could feel the pity in their stares.  
  
As she walked to the other side of the deck, she heard a conversation going on in the XO's office. "...think she's going to be able to keep doing her job?" Miranda was asking someone.  
  
Tali peeked around the corner to see Diana Shepard sitting in a chair against the wall. "I hope so. I only wish I could make her understand why I did it."  
  
"I've known you a while now, Shepard," Miranda said. "You've always valued the truth above anything else. Telling the quarians about what her father was doing was the right call."  
  
"Was it?" Shepard said. "Sometimes I'm not sure. If you'd seen how angry she was, how much I hurt her... I don't think she'll ever forgive me."  
  
"She'll be fine," Miranda assured her. "And she's got nowhere else to go, anyway. Things wouldn't be the same for her back on the Migrant Fleet. Even with her own name cleared, they'll still look on her as the daughter of a traitor. So unless she wants to strike out on her own, a quarian with no ship and no credits to her name, she's pretty much stuck here."  
  
Tali didn't wait to hear what Shepard said in response. She whirled and rushed back to the lift, trying her best to keep her emotions in check.  
  
No other ideas left, she finally went back to engineering to try the search again. Glancing down into her toolbox, she stopped in her tracks.  
  
The missing wrench was there again.  
  
And all the other tools were gone.  
  
She couldn't take it anymore. Her knees buckled under her, and she started sobbing as she sat down hard on the floor. The tears clouded her vision so much that she only barely saw the flash of light that appeared, and the human figure that stepped up to her.  
  
"Tali, hey," said Kasumi, placing a bag full of Tali's tools down on the floor. "You okay? Sorry, I was just playing a little joke. Didn't think you'd..."  
  
"Joke?" Tali shouted, and Kasumi took a step back in surprise. Jumping to her feet, Tali pounded her fist against a wall. "You want to know a great joke? How about this one, tell me if you've heard it. A quarian throws away her entire life to run off with a crew of humans and other aliens. She puts her trust in a human commander, and when she's put on trial for treason, she begs that human to not reveal what her father did in the name of trying to help his people. And here's the punchline: that human commander does exactly what the quarian told her not to do. She betrays that quarian, and then brings her back onto her ship and expects her to keep smiling and doing her job like before. But the really funny part of all it is, that the quarian doesn't have a damn choice anyway. She's stuck serving under this human and all her human friends, because she's got nowhere else to go."  
  
"A great joke, huh?" Tali's voice was hoarse from screaming and crying. "But yours was pretty good, too."  
  
"I'm sorry, Tali," Kasumi tried to lay a comforting hand on Tali's shoulder, but the quarian pushed it away.  
  
"Yeah, everybody's sorry. So sorry about how Shepard stomped all over my family name and betrayed my trust. Everybody's so damn sorry, but, oh, by the way Tali, the heating system on Deck 2 is on the fritz, could you take a look at it when you get a chance? Sure, of course I will, because what else am I good for to you humans?"  
  
Kasumi started to say something again, but Tali spun away. "Just leave me alone," she said, starting to sob again. "Every last one of you damn humans just leave me alone."  
  
* * *  
  
Several weeks later, Tali carefully fitted electronic components together at a workbench she'd set aside for her latest project. With her mind focused on her work, she was able to block out the pain and anger, if only for a little while.  
  
There was a sound to her right, impact of metal against metal. The noise made her instinctively flinch and jerk to look, searching for some ship component that had broken. When she saw nothing, she returned her attention to her project. But her hands froze when she saw the metal box that had suddenly appeared on the workbench to her left.  
  
"This is..." she gasped.  
  
"A Kassa 228 Piece All-In-One toolset," said Kasumi, as she materialized beside her. "One of the most advanced sets on the market. And the most expensive, or so I hear."  
  
"'So you hear?'" Tali cocked an eyebrow.  
  
Kasumi leaned casually against the workbench. "What, you think I paid for this? Please, swiping this was like stealing stimulator conduits from an elcor."  
  
Tali ran a hand down the shining surface of the advanced toolkit. "I can't take this. It wouldn't be right."  
  
"Of course it isn't right," Kasumi said with a grin. "That's what makes it more fun."  
  
Hesitantly, Tali opened the lid, revealing the vast array of different implements within. Kasumi watched in satisfaction as Tali marveled over the expensive gift.  
  
"Thank you, Kasumi," Tali said. "And I'm sorry for what I said before. You didn't deserve that."  
  
"Not a problem," Kasumi said. "I know how horrible it must be for you after what happened on the Migrant Fleet. Makes me remember how I was when I found out about Keiji's murder. I spent days afterward just wanting nothing more than to lie down and die. And the worst part was, I didn't have anybody to talk to about it. Living life as a master thief doesn't exactly give you an active social circle."  
  
Putting her hands on Tali's shoulders, Kasumi gave her a compassionate smile. "And I don't want you to go through the same thing I did. So from now on, my only job on this ship is to be here for you, whenever you need me."  
  
Tali didn't know what to say. She felt her eyes begin to water, and Kasumi must have sensed her emotions, as she drew Tali in for a tight, comforting hug. Tali didn't know how long she stood there, weeping into Kasumi's shoulder, but Kasumi never flinched or showed signs of impatience. She simply stood and held Tali for all the time she needed.  
  
"I'm sorry," Tali said as she finally pulled away. "These are my problems, and I shouldn't draw you into them."  
  
"We're shipmates, aren't we?" Kasumi said, giving Tali a light pat on the shoulder. "My problems are your problems, and we'll get through them together. Alright?"  
  
"Thank you. I think I'm feeling a little bit better."  
  
This made Kasumi frown. "Just a little bit? Not good enough. You know what you need to do?" Kasumi pointed at the partially-assembled device on the workbench. "You need to stop working on whatever stupid little project Shepard has you slaving away on, and come back to my room. We'll sit and watch some old vids, talk about what total assholes everyone else on this ship is... Anything you want to do, that isn't you doing somebody else's work for them."  
  
Kasumi put her arm on the workbench, making to swipe the device on the floor. "No, wait!" Tali cried out. "Actually, that... that's something I'm working on. For myself."  
  
Removing her arm, Kasumi stared down at the small metal object. "What's it supposed to be, anyway?"  
  
Tali rubbed at the back of her neck. "Well, it's a bit hard to explain. See, I..." She trailed off.  
  
"Come on, let a fellow techie in on the nerdiness, here," Kasumi cajoled her new friend.  
  
There was a long pause, Tali seeming to consider something for a good period. "Do you know what would really make me happy?" she finally asked. "Something you could do that would really let us have some fun?"  
  
Kasumi was all ears.  
  
* * *  
  
Shepard stared down at the device in her hands. "So, this is a hypnotism device?"  
  
"Bit more complicated than that, but generally yes," Mordin said in his usual rapid tone. "Been studying its potential effects using brain scans provided by Dr. Chakwas. Power of device over human mind quite remarkable."  
  
"And frightening," Shepard said, laying the device down onto a lab table and turning her attention to the datapad which displayed Mordin's report. She quickly skimmed the data and frowned. "You're sure this is the only one?"  
  
"Yes, positive," Mordin nodded. "Shadow Broker killed all scientists on project after work completed. Making sure no one else would be able to duplicate results, most likely."  
  
Shepard seemed satisfied by this answer. "Good, then we'll be ridding the galaxy of it when we destroy this one."  
  
"Would ask you to reconsider, Shepard," Mordin said. "Power of device could..."  
  
Both of them turned as the door to the lab slid open. There was an awkward pause, as no one stepped into the room. Shepard shrugged; some kind of glitch or something.  
  
"I'm well aware of what would be capable with a device like that," Shepard said. "Which is why I want it destroyed. If it were to fall into someone else's hands, someone without the willpower or responsibility to use it wisely... it could be catastrophic. Get rid of it."  
  
"Very well, Shepard," Mordin said, as he stepped around the lab table to open up the clear lid on a metal, box-like machine. "Will defer to your judgment on this." Grabbing the mind control device, he frowned.  
  
"What's the matter?" Shepard asked him.  
  
Mordin moved the device up and down in his hand. "Strange. Device felt heavier earlier. It... no, never mind. Too many hours in the lab, must be getting tired." Without dwelling on it further, he tossed the device into the machine, shut the lid, and tapped out several keys. With a bright flash, the deatomizer activated, and the device inside was reduced to several particles of ash.  
  
* * *  
  
"Went off without a hitch," Kasumi said with a grin, as she re-entered engineering and presented the small device to Tali. "Made the switch right under their noses. Or lack of nose, in Mordin's case."  
  
Kasumi studied the device as Tali turned it around in her hands, almost reverently. "So," Kasumi finally asked, "this thing is supposed to control people's minds or something?"  
  
Tali nodded. "Heard Mordin talking about it a few weeks ago and hacked into his research notes. Use it on somebody, and you can tell them to do whatever you want."  
  
"Like one of those stage shows," Kasumi said. "Make folks cluck like a chicken, think they're on fire, that sort of thing?"  
  
"I think so," Tali said. "Mordin never actually used the device on anyone, so I'm not sure what it's capable of."  
  
"Well, you know we gotta test that thing out on somebody," Kasumi said, mind whirling at the humorous possibilities. "Who should be our first subject?"  
  
Tali ran her fingers along the buttons at the top of the box. "I'm not sure... I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea. Messing with people's minds... I'm not sure that it's right to..."  
  
"Of course it isn't right," Kasumi said, deftly snatching the device from Tali's hands. "That's what makes it more fun. Now, who should we zap first?"  
  
Tali's voice turned fearful, as she tried to grab the device back. "No, Kasumi, we should take it back. This was a bad idea."  
  
Laughing, Kasumi dodged away from Tali's grasp. "Don't be such a worrywort! So, where's the on button on this thing?"  
  
"Give it back!" Tali called out, only for Kasumi to dodge away again with a cheerful laugh. "If Shepard finds out about this, she'll..."  
  
"Hey!" a loud voice drew both their attention. Jack stomped up the stairs. "Would you two shut the hell up? Trying to catch some sleep down here, dammit."  
  
"Sleep?" Kasumi said with a smirk. "I think you mean... SLEEEEEEEEEEP!" she dramatically intoned, as she pointed the device at Jack and pressed a button.  
  
Immediately, Jack's face went blank. Her arms went limp to her side, and she stood in place without moving.  
  
"What did you do?" Tali hissed, taking the device away from Kasumi.  
  
"Think I turned it on," Kasumi said. She and Tali walked up to Jack tentatively, Kasumi waving a hand in front of Jack's face. "Jack, can you hear me?"  
  
"Yes," replied the tattooed convict, in a lifeless, emotionless voice.  
  
Tali stared at Jack. "Keelah... it really does work."  
  
"What should we tell her to do?" Kasumi said. "Put on a shirt for once?"  
  
"Kasumi, we shouldn't do this," Tali said, although the worry in her voice was starting to fade a little.  
  
"Hey, it was your idea to build the fake device and steal this thing," Kasumi said. "Why not get some use out of it?"  
  
Tali continued to fidget, but offered no further protest.  
  
"Jack, are you ready to follow my commands?" Kasumi asked the hypnotized woman.  
  
"Yes," Jack responded.  
  
And then Kasumi gave her instructions. Tali gasped when her friend was finished, but didn't raise any protest.  
  
"Do you understand my instructions?" Kasumi asked Jack.  
  
"Yes," the compliant woman responded.  
  
Kasumi raised a hand. "When I snap my fingers, you'll wake up from your trance, understand?"  
  
"Yes," Jack intoned.  
  
Kasumi snapped, and Jack blinked. Immediately, the anger returned to her face. "So, you two gonna keep your fucking mouths shut for a bit, then?"  
  
"Sure thing, we'll keep nice and quiet," Kasumi said. "Have a nice nap now, Jack."  
  
Reaching up, Jack slapped herself in the face.  
  
"Fuck!" Jack cried out, rubbing at her reddened check. "What the..."  
  
"Now, why would you do that?" Kasumi said with a wicked grin. "Self-loathing getting to be a bit much for you, Jack?"  
  
"What are..." Jack started to say, before her own hand rose up and came across her cheek again. "What the hell is going on?"  
  
Tali let out a nervous chuckle. "We have no idea, Jack."  
  
SMACK! Jack reared back from the force of her own blow. She turned back to the pair with an angry glare, and then her eyes locked on the device in Tali's hand. "You... you have it! Give it to me, now!" Jack dashed forward, reaching out for the metal box. "It was supposed to be mine!"  
  
"No, stay back!" Tali cried out, and she reached up and triggered the device again.  
  
Just as before, Jack went limp, her eyes cold and dead.  
  
"Did you see that?" Kasumi said, laughing uproariously. "Tali, did you just see that? That was so damn awesome!"  
  
"No, it wasn't!" Tali exclaimed, her protests starting to sound a little feeble. "It was... we shouldn't have done that." Stepping forward, she addressed Jack. "Jack, you won't slap yourself anymore when somebody says your name, do you understand?"  
  
"Yes," Jack responded.  
  
"And you'll forget you ever saw me or Kasumi with this device," Tali added. "Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Tali hid the device in the back of her suit. "When I tap you on the shoulder, you'll wake up. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
As soon as Tali's fingers made contact, Jack recoiled away from the touch. "Get off me," she muttered. "And keep the damn noise down." Jack looked momentarily confused, as if sensing the gap in her memory. But she soon shrugged it off, and went back down the stairs, rubbing at her face and the strange pain she suddenly felt.  
  
Kasumi excitedly whispered to Tali after Jack was gone. "Tali, you're a genius! Getting our hands on this thing was the best idea ever! Who're we gonna use it on next?"  
  
She waited for Tali to start in with the doubts and nervousness again, but the quarian went quiet instead. After a while, she pulled the device out and stared down at it. "I think I have a few ideas."  
  
* * *  
  
"Come on out, you little blighter!" Ken was yelling as he tried to pry open a maintenance duct. "I'll have your fuzzy little head, so help me."  
  
Just coming on shift, Gabby stared at her long-time friend and engineering partner in confusion. She looked over at Tali, who just shrugged and shook her head.  
  
"Ken, what's going on?" Gabby finally asked.  
  
"Shh!" Ken waved his hand at Gabby. "You'll scare it. I'm this close to nabbing it, I swear."  
  
"Okay. Nabbing what exactly?"  
  
Ken turned to Gabby with frantic eyes. "Now, don't freak out, love. But there's a rat on the ship."  
  
Gabby arched a brow. "A rat?"  
  
"Biggest, hairiest rat I ever seen, so help me," Ken continued fiddling with the duct above his head. "Saw it crawl up here just a second ago."  
  
Gabby stared at Ken for a while. "Kenneth, how exactly would a rat have gotten onto the Normandy?"  
  
"Don't ask me. Maybe somebody picked it up as a pet, and let it get out. Point is, we have to find it before it does any damage. That thing gets a hold of the wrong power cable, could take out our entire electrical grid."  
  
"Ken, I think you need to take a break for a bit," Gabby said. "There's absolutely no way that a rat would..."  
  
Tali gasped. "Ken, look out!" she dramatically cried. "I think I see it, right there!"  
  
"What?" Ken followed Tali's pointing finger. "Where, where'd you see it?"  
  
"Over there, underneath the grating!" Tali tried her best to sound panicked, even as she shot a knowing look over at Gabby. "Get it, get it!"  
  
Ken went crashing to the floor, stabbing his tool in between the holes in the grating. "Come back here, you wee little bastard! Kenneth's got a present for ya!"  
  
"That way!" Gabby said, struggling to keep from breaking up as she directed Ken to another portion of the room. "I saw it too!"  
  
Crawling as rapidly as he could across the engine room floor, Ken took a quick right turn and ran his head straight into the wall. Tali and Gabby held back their laughter as Ken rubbed as his scalp, before quickly resuming his hunt.  
  
"Do you see it?" Ken called out after several more fruitless minutes of searching. "Any sign of the little pest?"  
  
Tali walked up and leaned down to put a hand on Ken's shoulder. "Ken, we were just messing with you. Truth is, there is no rat. You were just seeing things."  
  
"There was..." Ken blinked, slowly rising to his feet. "No rat, right. Yeah, I was just seeing things. There's no way a rat could have gotten onto the Normandy."  
  
"Good thing there wasn't," Tali said, as she walked to stand next to Gabby. "Something like that, a rat or..." She laid a hand on Gabby's shoulder. "Or if a snake was on the ship, that'd be terrifying."  
  
"Not that..." Gabby started to say, then her eyes locked on something and she shrieked. "Ohmigod! Look out!"  
  
Ken turned to follow her stare. "What are you on about, Gabby?"  
  
Gabby didn't respond at first, trying her best to climb up onto her own engineering console. "A snake, right there! Get it, somebody get it!"  
  
"Very funny, Gabby," Ken said, reaching down and picking something up. "Look, maybe I was seeing things thinking there was a rat here, but no need to poke any more fun. It's just a cable, don't..."  
  
"EEEEEEEEK!" Gabby's cry echoed across the engine room, as she recoiled away from Ken. "Get it away! It might be poisonous!"  
  
Ken looked at Tali with an annoyed expression. "She sure knows how to take a joke too far, doesn't she?" he asked, as he wiggled the severed piece of cabling in his hand.  
  
"Drop it, Ken!" Gabby shrieked. "It might bite you!"  
  
Grabbing Gabby's hand, Tali's voice was calm and reassuring. "It's okay, Gabby. There's no snake in the room."  
  
Gabby looked confused for a second, blinking and staring at the cable in Ken's hand. "Right... right, yeah, of course. No snake, what was I thinking?"  
  
Tali helped her down from her perch, and she and Ken walked back to their consoles, looking at each other oddly.  
  
"I'm going to go do some suit maintenance, I'll be right back," Tali approached the two human engineers. As she laid a hand on each of their shoulders, she added, "Make sure to let me know if the floor is covered in cockroaches, okay?"  
  
"Very funny, Tali," Ken said. "You keep that sense of..." His eyes drifted downward, and he let out a choked cry. "Jesus Christ! They're everywhere!"  
  
Gabby let out another shriek, and began stomping on the floor. "How'd they get on the ship? Tali, go get Shepard! We need to spray this whole room down!"  
  
Tali headed out of the room, and as soon as the door shut behind her, she burst out laughing. There was a bright flare of light beside her, and Kasumi shared in the enjoyment.  
  
"Did you see Ken?" Tali said between guffaws. "Scuttling around the ground like a crab?"  
  
"The brave Scottish hunter!" Kasumi declared in a grandiose tone. "Stalking his wily prey, never flagging in his..." she finally lost her composure and began laughing again.  
  
After they had both finished, Kasumi looked back at the engine room. "We'd better be careful, though." she said. "If either of them goes to Shepard with this..."  
  
"Not a problem," Tali said. "I programmed them to forget about everything that happened two minutes after I left. They won't remember anything about their pest control problems." She pulled up her omni-tool and showed the display to Tali. "But we've got a vid of it to enjoy anytime we want."  
  
"Tali, you're a natural at this," Kasumi said. "So, who're you going to play with next?"  
  
Tali grinned wickedly. "What, and spoil the surprise?"  
  
* * *  
  
Joker saw the approaching visitor and quickly shut down his screen. He'd learned after the last time with Shepard, and now had a security feed of the hallway heading toward the cockpit on one of his displays at all times. Keep somebody from walking in during the middle of his entertainment.  
  
"Tali," he said as he swiveled his chair. "Something wrong with the ship?"  
  
"No, not really," Tali said, glancing over her shoulder. "Why do you ask?"  
  
The pilot shrugged. "No reason, just weird to see you up here. Not that you're not welcome of course, just thought you were happy down in Engineering, is all."  
  
"Felt like a change of scenery, I guess," Tali said. "Take a walk around the ship, get my mind off everything that's been going on."  
  
Joker hated this. He didn't know what to say to Tali. Shepard had had her reasons for giving the information to the Admiralty Board, Joker trusted his Commander enough to believe that. But Tali was his friend, too, and he'd seen just how miserably depressed she had been afterward.  
  
"Look, that thing with your people sucked, I know," Joker finally said. "But after we're done here, saving the galaxy and all that, we'll all be the biggest heroes in history. I think that'll offset what your dad did just a little." He shrugged and added. "Or maybe we'll all be dead when this is over. In which case, hey, all of life's problems solved at once."  
  
Tali forced a smile. "Thanks, Joker. But I think I'm feeling a bit better about all that."  
  
"Well, that's good to hear," Joker said, stealing a quick glance at one of his displays before continuing the conversation. "I..." he paused. His vision started to go swimmy for a second, there. It was as if he'd just awoken from a light doze, and he placed a hand on the side of his head. "What was I saying?"  
  
"It's not important," Tali said. "I'll let you get back to work."  
  
Joker fidgeted in his seat, suddenly feeling an urge to hit the can. "Actually, think I need to take a break for a sec. But you ever want to chat, just stop by. Better than me hobbling down to find you, you know?"  
  
"Of course," Tali said, as the two of them walked away from the cockpit. Tali offered him a shoulder, but Joker waved her off. Saying her goodbyes, Tali reached the lift ahead of Joker, and was already gone by the time he made it there.  
  
"All the great stuff Cerberus put into this ship, but they had to put the only can down on another floor," Joker thought to himself, as he limped into the lift after it returned. Heading down to Deck 3, he quickly did his business and started back to the cockpit.  
  
As the lift doors opened on Deck 2, Joker took a few steps before he looked up at the platform looking over the galaxy map and gasped.  
  
"Something wrong, Joker?" Shepard said as she turned around.  
  
"Geez, Shepard!" Joker said, as he raised his arm to cover his eyes. "I know we don't exactly have a strict uniform code around here, but don't you think you're taking it a bit far?"  
  
Shepard walked around Joker, the pilot turning his head to avoid looking at his commander. "Joker, are you alright?"  
  
"Fine, just fine," Joker said, his voice panicked. "It's your ship, I suppose you can do whatever you want. Just warn me the next time, okay?"  
  
As he tried not to look at Shepard, his eyes caught Kelly, staring at him from her usual position. "Oh, man, you too, Kelly?" he asked, looking away again. "Did I miss a memo or something? This some sort of messed-up version of 'Casual Friday' or something?"  
  
"Joker, you're acting really strange," Shepard said.  
  
"I'm acting strange?" Joker exclaimed. "Am I the only one who doesn't..."  
  
And as he cast his eyes around the deck and saw the rest of the crew, his jaw gaped. They, like Shepard and Kelly, appeared to be completely naked. Joker kept trying to avert his eyes from the bare flesh of his shipmates, only to find himself staring at another naked body.  
  
Kelly walked up to Joker. "You feeling alright?" she asked.  
  
Joker was now staring at the ceiling, forcing himself not to look down at the yeoman's nude body. "Oh, man, this is either the best or worst dream ever! Please be the best, please be..."  
  
The lift doors opened. "Shepard, you ready to head down to the surface?" Garrus said as he walked in.  
  
"I'm ready, battlemaster," Grunt said, checking the heatsink on his shotgun. "Point me at our enemy and I'll destroy them in your name."  
  
"Worst!" Joker cried out as he looked over at Grunt and Garrus and saw their naked, alien bodies. "Definitely worst!"  
  
"In a little while," Shepard said. "Something's wrong with Joker."  
  
Joker had his hands clamped over his eyes. "This is what I get for watching those videos without checking the thumbnails first! Alien wangs in my nightmares!"  
  
As the rest of the crew gathered around Joker, his omni-tool let out a quiet chime, as if an alarm had been programmed to go off. Joker blinked, and pulled his hands away from his eyes to see his crewmates staring at him in concern. And with all their clothes back on.  
  
"Um..." Joker stammered. "What just happened?"  
  
"We're not quite sure," Garrus said. "Maybe you should answer first."  
  
Joker looked puzzled. "Don't know. For a second there you were all... well... never mind. I think the stress of this mission might be getting to me a little."  
  
Shepard gave her pilot a warm smile. "If you need to take some time off, I'm sure EDI can handle things for a while."  
  
Joker nodded. "Yeah, yeah, sure," he said. "Think I'll go lay down for a bit, get my head on straight. Thanks, Commander."  
  
As he rode the lift down to his quarters, he pulled up his omni-tool and sent out a message to the inbox of the Citadel consort. "Urgent! Appointment needed as soon as possible," it read. "Months on ship with no companionship driving me crazy, apparently."  
  
* * *  
  
Kasumi snickered as she watched the surveillance vids of Joker freaking out in the CIC. "I'm surprised, actually. Thought Joker would have loved seeing Shepard like that."  
  
Tali chuckled with her, the two of them sitting together on Kasumi's couch in Port Observation. She leaned in close to Kasumi, her arm held up in order for both of them to watch the screen.  
  
She still remembered standing there in the cockpit, staring down at Joker and giving him his instructions while he blankly agreed. Just like Ken and Gabby, the human pilot had absorbed all of her commands without protest.  
  
And she had felt so... powerful. She could have told Joker to do anything, and he would have done it. All of her life, Tali had been following somebody else's orders. Always marching to the beat of someone else's drum. But with this device, whenever she used it on someone, she was the one in charge.  
  
"So," Kasumi said, as she wrapped a friendly arm around Tali's shoulders. "Still think what we're doing isn't right?"  
  
Tali turned to grin at her. "Of course it isn't right..."  
  
"...That's what makes it more fun," they finished together.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh," said Dr. Chakwas, as the door to the medbay opened. She turned in her chair to see a familiar face. Or rather, one that had become familiar recently.  
  
"Got a... a twinge in my shoulder," said Zaeed, fidgeting as he stepped over to her. "Thought maybe you could take a look."  
  
Chakwas rose to her feet, scrutinizing the scarred mercenary. "Didn't I look at your shoulder two days ago?"  
  
"Yeah, I suppose," Zaeed said, fidgeting as Chakwas moved closer to him. "But it's worse now. Worried it might throw off my aim in the battlefield."  
  
"Just like you were worried about the ache in your back five days ago," Chakwas said.  
  
Zaeed leaned backward, resting a hand on his waist and letting out a loud groan. "Think that might be flaring up again, too."  
  
"And three days before that, when you came in sure that you'd come down with the bubonic plague?"  
  
Her frequent patient stared at the floor. "I... was itchy."  
  
Chakwas laid a hand on her hip. "Mr. Massani, I'm not going to treat you again. Either you're a raging hypochondriac, in which case you should be seeing Ms. Chambers instead of me. Or there's another reason you keep coming into my office, in which case I wish you would level with me and stop wasting my time."  
  
"Urgh. Dammit, what the hell is wrong with me?" Zaeed cursed under his breath. "Truth is... see, past few weeks I... I've been thinking about you a lot."  
  
"Thinking about me?"  
  
Chakwas was surprised to see a bashful smile come to the grizzled merc's face. "Crazy, I know. Don't even know what brought it on all of a sudden like this. But seems like lately, you're the only thing on my mind."  
  
"Well, that's... surprising," Chakwas said, trying not to laugh at this fierce warrior blushing like a schoolboy. "I appreciate you being honest with me, but please. No more checkups unless they're absolutely necessary."  
  
"Well, now that you mention it," Zaeed said, a wicked glint in his eye. "I do have one more body part I wouldn't mind you taking a look at."  
  
Chakwas gasped as Zaeed started to reach for his zipper.  
  
* * *  
  
"Poor Dr. Chakwas," Tali said with a giggle, as she and Kasumi watched the events unfolding in the medlab on Tali's omni-tool.  
  
Kasumi looked over at Tali in concern. "Zaeed isn't going to... you know..."  
  
"No, I programmed him so he wouldn't try anything against her will," Tali said. "Once she throws him out of the lab, his programming should wear off."  
  
The two turned back to the screen, waiting to see Chakwas hustle the unwanted suitor away.  
  
Or, at least, that's what they were expecting.  
  
"Uh," Kasumi said, as they instead watched the blurry image of the ship's doctor leading Zaeed over to the corner of the medlab, away from the observation windows. "She's isn't... is she?"  
  
"Keelah!" Tali exclaimed, as Chakwas sunk to her knees, yanking down Zaeed's pants. The vid image was fuzzy, but there was no mistaking what was happening in the med-lab, as the doctor wrapped her lips around Zaeed's rigid hard-on and bobbed her head on the shaft.  
  
Kasumi stared at Tali in shock. "You hypnotized Chakwas, too?"  
  
"No, I swear," Tali exclaimed. "This is all her."  
  
They watched the events unfolding in shock, Zaeed throwing his head back and laying a hand on top of the doctor's head, Chakwas showing a remarkable skill at fellatio if Zaeed's grunting was any indication. "Guess when you're on a ship with a bunch of men all the time," Tali thought to herself, "you pick up a trick or two."  
  
"We need to stop watching this," Kasumi said, sounding disgusted.  
  
"Yeah, we should stop," Tali agreed. But neither of them looked away, as they watched Chakwas throw off her lab coat, revealing her slightly drooping but still curvy form. She hopped back onto one of the medbay cots, raising a beckoning finger to Zaeed as she slowly spread her legs. Even on the hazy vidscreen, they could both see the eager grin on Zaeed's face as he climbed on top of her, and there was no missing the sight of Chakwas's legs wrapping around Zaeed's hips as he began thrusting.  
  
"Okay, seriously, Tali," Kasumi said, pushing Tali's arm away. "Turn this off right now." Looking shaken, she began pacing the room, obviously shaken by what she had witnessed. "Beginning to think maybe we shouldn't have played around with this thing."  
  
"Come on, Kasumi," Tali said, deactivating her omni-tool and walking over to her friend. "Weren't you the one who said we should get some use out of this device?"  
  
"For a few laughs, yeah. Not to manipulate people into doing things they might regret."  
  
"I don't know," Tali said with a wry tone, "Didn't look like Zaeed or the doctor were regretting anything."  
  
"I'm serious," Kasumi said. "This has gotten out of hand. We should just tell Shepard about what we did and..."  
  
"No!" Tali exclaimed, so loud that Kasumi jumped in surprise. "We're not telling her. I'm not giving her a reason to screw with me more than she already has. Or you either."  
  
Kasumi held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Fine, we don't tell Shepard. But still... this thing needs to go. We'll destroy it or something."  
  
"Kasumi, you worry too much," Tali said. "Listen to this; I have another prank in mind. A really good one, too. I get Kelly alone and convince her to..."  
  
"No, no more," Kasumi said. "Tali, I'm serious about this. We either destroy that thing, right here and now, or I'm going to Shepard."  
  
Sighing, Tali reached into a pouch on her suit and retrieved the device. "You know, I could change your mind about that," she said mirthfully, as she casually waved the metal box at Kasumi.  
  
With a surprising ferocity, Kasumi grabbed Tali's wrist and yanked her arm away. "Don't you even joke about that! Don't you dare," she exclaimed. "If I ever thought you had used that thing on me..."  
  
"It... it was a joke," Tali said, shocked by this sudden turn in Kasumi's mood. "I wouldn't ever do that to you, Kasumi."  
  
"I know," Kasumi said, shaking a little and staring at the device in Tali's hand. "Please, if you're really my friend... let's destroy it, okay?"  
  
Tali sighed, as she reluctantly placed the metal box onto Kasumi's desk. Grabbing a large, heavy bust from nearby, Tali grunted as she raised it up with both hands, and brought it smashing down on the device. It surprised Kasumi how quiet it sounded, for something so powerful to be reduced to a bunch of useless scrap.  
  
"Thank you," Kasumi said. "This should have never gone as far as it did, but now that it's done, I feel a lot better."  
  
"Yeah," Tali said, staring down at the remnants of the device. "You were probably right."  
  
Kasumi wrapped an arm around Tali's shoulders. "You mean it? You're not mad at me, are you?"  
  
Tali turned to Kasumi, and smiled behind her mask. "Of course not. You'll always be my friend, Kasumi."  
  
"Thanks, Tali," Kasumi wrapped the quarian in a warm hug. "Despite all this, I've had fun hanging out with you. I wouldn't want to lose our friendship over that terrible thing." Pulling away, Kasumi let out a yawn. "Oh, man. All this craziness wore me out. Come back and visit tomorrow, though. I've picked up this new vid on Illium I've been dying to show you."  
  
"Sure, I'll be here," Tali said, her voice somewhat deflated as she walked out of the observation room without another word.  
  
As soon as the door shut, Tali brought up her omni-tool again. The festivities were still in progress in the med-bay: Chakwas was now on top of Zaeed, the merc's wrinkled hands kneading the doctor's breasts as she rode up and down on his thick member.  
  
Tali trigged a shortcut on her omni-tool, and her nerve-stim program kicked into gear. Leaning against the wall outside Kasumi's room, she watched the humans screw and felt herself hitting her climax within minutes.  
  
By the time she had recovered, the two humans in the med-bay were finished, and began hastily cleaning up and getting dressed. Deactivating the omni-tool screen, Tali reached into another pouch of her suit and pulled out the real device.  
  
She had always made sure to be prepared for any possible problem. But still, she had felt so guilty when she had built the other fake. Kasumi was her friend, after all. She understood that Tali needed this. That it was the only way for her to take control of the people that had been leading her around on a leash like their own little pet. She had to know that, didn't she?  
  
But in the end, Kasumi had been just like the rest of them. Out to control her, to tell her what to do, how to live her life. She'd asked Tali to get rid of the device just like Tali had worried she would.  
  
"But I'll never do that," Tali thought to herself as she walked back to the lift. "I was meant to have this device. It's everything I ever prayed for. I'm the one in control now, and nobody - not Shepard, not Cerberus, not even my so-called friends - are going to give me another order again once I'm finished."  
  
Zaeed, breathing heavily, called out for Tali to hold the lift as he dashed inside. "Thanks, love," the frazzled merc smoothed out his wrinkled clothing as they descended to Deck 4. Glancing over, he saw the box in Tali's hand and arched an eyebrow. "What's that, then? Some sort of quarian gadget or something?"  
  
"Oh, you'll find out," Tali said with a grin. "You're all going to find out soon enough."


	2. Proper Testing Protocols

There was a saying on the Migrant Fleet, "Test, and test again. And when you're sure it works, test it one more time."

And Tali had every intention of living up to her people. So before she started using the device in earnest, she needed to see just what it was capable of.

"Gabby, what's the status on..." Ken started to say, before he stopped speaking abruptly and stared off into space.

Gabby looked over to see Ken standing limply. "Ken, you okay?" she asked and started to reach for him before Tali hit her with the device as well.

Tali stared at them for a while, struggling to get over the emotions she was feeling. There was a part of her that still thought of these two as her friends. They had never been as unfriendly as some of the other humans of the Normandy. Always included her in their inside jokes, never looked down on her for being an alien.

"But that's what you thought about Kasumi, too," Tali thought to herself. "And look how that turned out for you. They're just like all other humans: using you for their own benefit. They're not your friends. They're just test subjects."

But still, it was hard to let that go. That part of her that still thought of herself as a member of this crew. Once she started this, there was no turning back. What she planned to do was an unforgivable betrayal.

"Just like how Shepard betrayed you," said that voice in her head again. "Like they all betrayed you by supporting Shepard. But once you're done with them, they'll never do anything like that again."

Forcing herself to shut off her emotional attachments, she started her first test.

"Ken, Gabby, can you hear me?"

"Yes," they both said in unison.

"Are you ready to obey my instructions?"

"Yes," they repeated, and the sound of it sent a thrill up her spine. Just like the last time, they were putty in her hands. She could tell them to do anything right now, and they'd do it. But for right now, she was keeping things simple. A test of just how powerful the human mind was at ignoring the sensory input of the body.

"When I wake you up from this trance, I will be completely invisible to you both. You will not see me, hear me, or make any acknowledgment of my presence. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"No matter what happens, or what I do to you, neither of you will realize that I'm in the same room with you. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Part of her was sure this wasn't going to work. Sure, she'd convinced Joker to see everyone on the ship as being stark naked, but she imagined the perverted pilot did that on his own just fine. Could she actually make this work?

"When I knock on the bulkhead," Tali said, "you will wake from your trance. Do you understand?"

"Yes," they spoke in emotionless tones.

Tali raised a hand and knocked on the metal wall. Both of the humans blinked, and immediately returned to their work.

"Ken, what were you about to say?" Gabby asked.

Ken shook his head, as if shaking off a light sleep. "Oh, sorry. Spaced out for a moment. Was going to ask what the status was on the starboard thruster array."

"Seems to be alright. Might want to ask Tali to take a look when she shows up, though."

"Yeah, that girl can spot problems I'd never see if I spent a day staring at it," Ken said. "Wonder where she got off to."

"I'm right here," Tali said, testing the waters. But neither of the humans responded.

Gabby let out a sad sigh. "Probably off thinking about what happened with Shepard. Poor thing."

"Yeah, can't imagine what she must be going through," Ken said.

"I BET YOU CAN'T!" Tali yelled directly into Ken's ear. The male engineer didn't budge, only pausing to reach up and wiggle a finger inside his ear canal.

"Hopefully, she... ow!" Gabby let out a light cry, rubbing at the spot on her back where Tali had firmly jabbed her with one of her tools. "Just got a little cramp."

"Pain," Tali thought to herself, mentally taking notes. "One sensation that the human mind can't block out. Could be the best way to manipulate them."

Ken smirked at her. "You need me to massage it?" he joked.

Gabby gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. "That'll be the day."

And as she saw the long, lingering glance that passed between the two of them, a thought sprang to Tali's mind. "Pain maybe... but what about pleasure?"

Tali waited until Gabby walked away, moving to another part of the room to check something on Tali's station. Steeling her nerves, she walked up behind Ken and wrapped her arms around his body, putting one hand down inside his uniform pants.

"Just a test subject," Tali repeated out loud to herself, but still she felt terrified as she felt around inside Ken's clothing. Finally, her fingers gripped around his penis, and Ken let out a surprised gasp. For a second, she was sure that the mind control had worn off, and she'd soon find herself having to explain why she was standing behind him with her hand down his pants.

But Ken soon shrugged off the sensation, and Tali slowly pulled Ken's stiffening cock out of his pants.

Working her way underneath Ken's console and crouching in front of his crotch, she took a while just to look at his exposed penis. She'd only seen one other human's "equipment" before today, and it had been on a hazy vidscreen. And she'd only seen it for a few seconds before Dr. Chakwas had concealed it down her throat. It surprised her how similar it was to a quarian male's, although she'd only seen those before in medical texts. She had no idea if Ken's was large or small by human standards, but as she ran her fingers up and down its length, she watched in fascination as it swelled with blood.

Ken's body stiffened slightly, and Tali was sure again that she'd pushed things too far. But even as he looked down, his brain refused to tell him what his eyes should be seeing: his cock out of his pants, currently being stroked by a terrified quarian. He returned to his work without a second thought.

Getting bolder, Tali began stroking Ken's cock faster. The human stopped working and gripped his console with tight fingers, the pleasure of what Tali was doing to him working its way past all her programming. After a few minutes of stimulation, he let out a choked moan.

"Keelah!" Tali exclaimed, as Ken's cock discharged onto her. His human seed splattered against her bio suit, leaving white streaks dripping down her mask onto her chest. Too surprised to do anything else, she kept jerking at his cock, until the last few spurts of cum dripped down onto her.

"Ken, you okay?" she heard Gabby say, and quickly returned Ken's flaccid cock back to his pants.

"Uh, yeah," Ken said, while Tali crawled around him and got back to her feet. "Just had a cramp of my own, I think."

Tali wiped at the sticky fluid dripping down her body. Part of her knew she should feel disgusted, but mostly she felt... excited.

The device worked beyond her wildest expectations. And now she knew exactly how she would take control of the Normandy's crew: through their hormones. The one urge they couldn't deny, the one that governed them above all others.

Humanity's own horniness would be their downfall.

And Tali knew exactly who she would put to the test next.

* * *

"Tali, this is a surprise," said Kelly, as the quarian stepped into her office. "What can I do for you?"

Tali sat down opposite Kelly, noting with satisfaction that Kelly made no indication of having seen her just seconds earlier. Tali didn't say anything, simply staring at Kelly, assessing the young yeoman.

For a long time now, Kelly had been trying to get Tali into her office. Putting on a big show about caring about what Tali felt, but Tali knew now that Kelly didn't really care. All that mattered to her was whether or not Tali was properly motivated, whether she'll play her part in the mission without raising a fuss.

Well, Tali had finally visited Kelly's office. But it wasn't therapy she had in mind for today.

"How are you doing, Tali?" Kelly asked her, looking a little awkward as her visitor sat and said nothing. "I know you've been very upset recently, and I want you to know you can tell me whatever you want."

Tali smacked her lips together. "I'm fine," she finally said.

"Tali, I... oh," Kelly shuddered slightly, shifting in her chair. "I want you to open up to me. Tell me anything that's bothering you. Everything that goes on in this office is under the strictest of confidences. Shepard, the rest of the crew, nobody will know about it."

"I'm not sure what to say," Tali said, staring at Kelly as she spoke.

A light flush was coming to Kelly's face, but she kept up her professional demeanor. "Just say whatever comes to mind."

"Actually," Tali said, "I've been feeling a bit better lately. I've found a way to take control of my life again."

As Tali spoke, Kelly started to look more and more flustered. Tali could see the yeoman's nipples stiffen underneath her uniform, and sweat began to bead on her forehead.

"Every word I speak will cause you to become aroused," Tali had given Kelly the command several seconds earlier. "The more I talk, the more horny you'll get, until you won't be able to control yourself anymore."

"That's... that's good to hear," Kelly was saying, breathing heavily. "But I want you to know that you can... can always come to me at any time."

Leaning back in her chair, Tali crossed her arms and stared at Kelly. "Thank you for the offer, Kelly. I'm really glad you're willing to be such a friend to me."

"Not... a problem," Kelly was biting her bottom lip, looking ready to explode from the sensations she was trying to suppress. "Tali, I'm sorry, but I just remembered I have another appointment coming up soon. Could you maybe stop by a little later?"

"But I have so many other problems I want to tell you about," Tali said, a taunt in her voice as she put her feet up on Kelly's desk. "I feel like I could talk to you for hours about all the things going on in my life lately, like..."

"Mmmph," Kelly was rubbing her thighs tightly together, trying her best to get herself off without her current visitor noticing. "Tali, please... come back later. I need to... to..."

"To do what, Kelly?" Tali rose to her feet, leaning forward on Kelly's desk and watching the human squirm in amusement. "What do you need to do? Tell me what's bothering you, Kelly. You know I'm here to listen."

"Oh, Tali, I'm sorry," Kelly cried out, before unzipping her pants and thrusting both hands down into her crotch. Tali could hear the wet squish of Kelly's fingers as she pushed down inside her soaked panties and desperately fingered herself. "I don't know what's come over me! I can't control myself."

Tali strolled around Kelly's desk, watching the human frantically try to get herself off. "Terrible thing, isn't it? To lose control? To not be able to make your own decisions, and be forced to have somebody else make them for you?"

Kelly seemed to barely hear Tali's words, but the effect of her hypnotic suggestion were definitely in full effect. Yanking up the front of her top, Kelly reached one of her hands up to pull roughly on one of her stiffened nipples, while the other hand continued its rapid stroking down between her thighs.

Tapping out a sequence on her omni-tool, Tali set her nerve-stim software onto a low setting. The pleasant hum started in her crotch, and she grinned as she strutted around the helplessly horny Kelly.

"God," Kelly helplessly cried out, her fingers seeming to have no effect on her rapidly increasing arousal. "Oh, God."

"God didn't do this to you," Tali said, watching Kelly gasp as Tali's voice increased the desperate tingling in her pussy to even higher levels. "I did. And the only way you're going to find release from this is if I grant it to you. So, Kelly, I want you to ask me... no, I want you to BEG me to let you cum."

"How..." Kelly moaned, barely coherent through the uncontrollable sensations Tali's hypnotism was putting her through. "How did you..."

"How doesn't matter," Tali said. "The real question is 'who.' As in 'who is your master'? Who controls you now?"

Kelly looked shocked, not used to this new Tali. "Please, Tali... please let me..."

"Who controls you now, bitch?" Tali spat out.

"Y... you do, Tali."

Tali hopped up to sit on Kelly's desk. "Am I your master?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Please, Tali, whatever you say! Just let me cum!"

"You'll do anything I ask you?"

"Anything!"

"Very well, then," Tali said. Leaning forward, she brushed one of her fingers against Kelly's cheek.

"OHMIGOD!" Kelly screamed, as the orgasm Tali's hypnotic suggestion had been holding back hit her like a freight train. She almost fell from her chair as she jerked and spasmed in mind-blowing ecstasy, going through what would have been the most intense climax of her life if the one that followed afterward didn't immediately claim that prize.

By the time she was finished, she was soaked in her own sweat and juices. Looking down at the exhausted Kelly from her seat on the edge of her desk, Tali grinned. It had been her last hypnotic suggestion to Kelly before she'd left, that once Kelly had surrendered herself to Tali's commands and felt her orgasm, that she would be completely bent to Tali's will, and become her willing slave.

"You should consider yourself lucky, Kelly," Tali said, looking down at the first of her new subjects. "I made this quick for you. I can't say the same for the rest of them. Them, I'm going to enjoy watching lose control over their free will slowly." She shrugged casually. "But in the end, you'll all end up the same. Every last human on this ship will be just like you are now: a slave to my every demand."

Kelly blearily opened her eyes, coming down from the overload of pleasure Tali's mind control had granted her. Smiling, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Tali's waist.

"Thank you, Tali," Kelly said. "Thank you for choosing me first. I'll do anything you ask me."

"I know you will, Kelly," Tali said, stroking her first slave's head and smiling behind her mask. "I know you will."

* * *

"Crewman," said a voice behind her, and Mia Patel jumped at the sound. "Are you feeling alright?"

Mia turned to see Miranda Lawson staring at her curiously. "Feeling fine, ma'am," Mia responded. "Is there a problem?"

"You seem distracted," Miranda said in that cold, professional tone of hers. "When I passed you just a few seconds ago, you were just standing and staring off into space. Don't you have duties to attend to?"

"Sorry, ma'am," Mia felt herself start to blush. "I guess my mind was... it won't happen again, I promise."

Miranda cocked her head at Mia. "I understand that things are stressful right now. If you need time to see Miss Chambers..."

"No, that's not necessary," Mia shifted nervously, wanting this conversation to be over. "I just saw her a few days ago, actually. I'm fine, ma'am, really."

Looking doubtful, Miranda finally nodded. "Alright, then, crewman. But if you need some time to get your head together, just let me know. We need everyone on this ship in peak condition for this mission, both physical and mental."

"I will be, ma'am," Mia said, and Miranda finally walked away.

That appointment with Kelly, Mia recalled as she went about her duties. That was when this had all began. Strange thing was, she didn't remember most of what they had talked about. Every time she tried to focus on a particular conversation, a single question that Kelly had asked her or an answer she had given, the memory got... fuzzy.

But at some point during their conversation, the topic had turned to Tali. And without even thinking about it, Mia had confessed that she'd always had an attraction to the mysterious alien woman. But... had she? Even as she had been saying it, it sounded wrong somehow. Her duties didn't even take her close to engineering, and although she had passed Tali in the hall once or twice, they'd barely even spoken to each other.

But as she spoke, the doubts started to fade, and soon she remembered all of the desires and fantasies she had suppressed about the exotic alien woman. Suppressed so much that she hadn't even remembered she'd had them before she spoke to Kelly. The yeoman had a way of bringing things to the surface, it seemed.

"On a long space voyage, it's natural for people confined in close quarters for long periods of time to develop urges toward one another," Kelly had assured her. "You shouldn't deny these feelings, Mia. Even if you don't act on them, you shouldn't feel ashamed about affection towards someone."

"But I'm not... I've never had feelings for another woman before," Mia had protested. "Especially not an alien woman. And I've got somebody back on the Citadel I've been seeing. How could I allow myself to betray him like that, even in my mind?"

"Your mind is your own, Mia," Kelly said. "It's your own private place where you can think whatever you want, indulge whatever fantasies you'd like. It's the one place we have in life where everything is secret, and that nobody - not your boyfriend, not anyone - can get to."

What was it she had seen then, in Kelly's eyes? The hint of a laugh being suppressed, and something else. Something that frightened her just a little bit.

Regardless, confessing this attraction that she hadn't even remembered she'd had before that day, had brought those feelings right to the surface. Seeing Tali in the hallway now, she would give her a smile and a warm greeting, and felt herself melt just a little when the quarian returned the acknowledgment. More and more, she found herself thinking about Tali as she went about her daily duties, and she would make excuses to find her way down to engineering, just to get a glimpse of the remarkable suited alien. It had been Tali on her mind when Miranda had caught her daydreaming while on shift.

And then there was the incident last night. The lights were dimmed in the crew quarters, and everyone else was sound asleep. But Mia's own sleep had been interrupted by one of the most vivid dreams she'd ever experienced, of three-fingered hands slowly stripping her out of her clothing, teasing every one of her most sensitive areas as she surrendered herself to the pleasure.

"You're mine," the voice of Tali had said in her mind. "Mine to do with as I wish. You will live by my command, and die by my command, and I will reward you with pleasure like you've never experienced before."

It had sounded wonderful, and the memory of it was still vivid as Mia had woken up back in her upper bunk. Just the thought of obeying Tali's orders, doing everything she asked of her, sent a tingle racing all across her body. Underneath her covers, she unfastened her pants and slipped a hand underneath her panties, already damp with the remembrance of the dream. Closing her eyes, she summoned up the image of Tali from her dream and began fingering herself rapidly. Any thoughts of Gary back on the Citadel, of that handsome actor from those action vids she and Rolston would always watch, all of her usual fantasies were replaced with the image of a commanding and sexy quarian.

"Yes, Tali," she had whispered, trying to keep from waking anyone in the room. "I'm yours, Tali. I'm yours to command."

Gasping, she felt a rush of pleasure as her juices flowed out across her fingers and clothing. It seemed like her orgasm went on for hours, the most intense one she'd ever had, and she felt on the verge of passing out.

By the time her climax was finished, she opened her eyes and let out a shocked gasp.

There was someone standing there, watching her in the dark. He started talking, and Mia immediately recognized Rolston's voice.

"It won't be long now," he said, a smile in his tone. "You'll be one of hers soon, just like the rest of us."

Mia was too shocked by her friend's voyeurism to even speak. What was he talking about? One of hers?

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," Rolston said. "But I can't wait until you join us. It's so wonderful, Mia. So..."

The door to the crew quarters had opened then, and Rolston quickly turned away and dropped down into his own bunk below hers. It was a long time after that before Mia got to sleep again, but when she did, the dreams of Tali returned.

Remembering that incident today, Mia knew that things had gone too far. She had to deal with this, once and for all. She walked swiftly to the lift and hit the button for the engineering deck.

When she arrived in the engine room, Tali was alone, working as usual at her console. "Hello, Crewman Patel," Tali said, no trace of surprise in her voice as she turned to face Mia.

"Tali, I need to tell you something," Mia started in, the words pouring out like a flood. "I can't take this anymore. I've been thinking about you and... and dreaming about you. I don't know what's happening to me, but I do know that I... I..."

"It's okay," Tali said, as she stepped forward to place her hands on Mia's shoulders. "I have to admit that I'm a little surprised."

Mia let out an awkward laugh. "I know. We've barely even talked to each other, and all of a sudden I..."

"No, not that. I'm just surprised that it took this long. I never would have expected you to be one of the last to give in."

"One of the last...?" Mia said, struggling to compute this sentence even as she felt her mind being overwhelmed at the mere touch of this woman. This beautiful, commanding, amazing woman, who was currently slipping Mia out of her uniform and letting it fall to the floor.

"You're mine," Tali was saying, words that Mia had heard before, and thrilled at the sound of. "Mine to do with as I wish." Tali freed Mia's breasts from her bra, the feeling of her fingers groping and stroking at Mia's mounds absolutely exquisite. "You will live by my command, and die by my command, and I will reward you with pleasure like you've never experienced before."

"Yes, Tali," Mia said, as if reading from a script that she had memorized in a previous lifetime. "I'm yours, Tali. I'm yours to command."

Tali's hand slipped down to Mia's sopping mound, and Tali's newest slave praised her mistress as she came again and again.

* * *

"Oh, hello, Tali," said Dr. Chakwas, as Tali strolled into the medbay. In public like this, Tali's subjects addressed her as they normally would. It was only away from the prying eyes of the yet-to-be-indoctrinated that she received the worship she deserved. "I put together that package you requested. It's over there on my desk."

"Thank you," Tali said, the depression and anger of the past few weeks now completely gone from her voice. Picking up the metal box, she opened the lid and smiled. "Yes, this should be enough."

"I'm glad to hear it," Chakwas said, the hungry look in her eyes an indication that she hoped to be rewarded for her work. And Tali had no plans to disappoint her. But for now, she had to keep up appearances.

Walking back to engineering, she greeted the humans that smiled and waved as she passed, their eyes drinking in every inch of their new mistress.

There were only five left now. The five of the worst, the ones she had come to hate the most. She was going to take her time with them, savor the feeling of watching them lose control of their free will, one by one.

And there would be one more difference. Opening the box again, she stared down at the large supply of antibiotics and immune suppressors with a hungry look. For all the others, she had stayed in her suit, and simply watched as they played with themselves for her pleasure, or begged her to touch them with her gloved hands.

But for these five, she would feel them obediently press their bodies against hers. Have their warm, rapid breaths blow across her bare skin. And allow them to service her as she truly deserved.

Pulling out the device, she stroked it lovingly. Her plan was almost complete. The only question now was which of the five to start with.


	3. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (Before the Citadel)

Stretching and yawning, Miranda threw off the covers. Strange, she had gone to sleep at her normal time, and she normally woke up feeling refreshed. But for some reason, today she was feeling fatigued. Like she'd been up all night working or... or something else.  
  
"Need to take my shower," she thought to herself, "then get a nice big cup of coffee." Throwing on a simple outfit, she stepped out of her office and made her way down the hall. Sometimes she envied Shepard and her own personal restroom. When the Cerberus engineers were designing the new and improved Normandy, she'd done her best to make a few suggestions, but apparently a full-sized bath would have been too hard to accommodate for her quarters.  
  
No matter. The Normandy was going to be stopping by the Citadel for a much needed rest and recuperation for the crew, and Miranda already knew what she had in store for her: the penthouse suite of the most expensive hotel she could find, a nice bottle of chilled champagne, and a long, luxurious soak in a warm tub.  
  
"And maybe a little companionship, too," said a wicked little voice in her head. But she dismissed it. Part of her had considered celebrating the success of their mission against the Collectors with another visit to the iPartner chats. Even if her bastard of a father had made sure her primary reason for those encounters was pointless... what would it hurt to have a little fun once in a while?  
  
But no, she thought as she entered the women's facilities. While she wasn't a prude when it came to casual sex, it often carried more headaches with it then it was usually worth. No, best just to make her leisure time her own.  
  
She yawned once again as she yanked the t-shirt she wore up over her head. Dammit, why was she so tired this morning? She thought back to the previous night, trying to remember if she had awoken during the evening.  
  
 _Do you understand my instructions?_  
  
"Yes," she said under her breath to the voice she had heard in her head.  
  
"Yes, what, Miss Lawson?" said a voice behind her. Miranda gasped in shock and turned around to see Samara enter.  
  
"Nothing, just..." Miranda shook her head. "Just talking to myself."  
  
But she wasn't. She had been responding to... to what? The voice she'd heard just then had seemed so real, and she had answered it without question. But as she tried to focus on it, tried to place whose voice it was, it seemed to get fuzzier and fuzzier in her mind.  
  
If Miranda was betraying any of the confusion she felt on her face, Samara didn't acknowledge it. With that same grace she performed every action with, the asari Justicar began unfastening the clasps on her armor, carefully placing it on the floor as she slowly disrobed.  
  
Shaking off her confusion, Miranda continued undressing as well. Glancing over, she saw that Samara was now completely naked. Bent over her clothing, she had her backside displayed to Miranda, and Miranda caught a glimpse of the asari's bare crotch.  
  
"Strange, how similar their biology is to ours," she thought to herself. When Samara straightened up, Miranda quickly averted her eyes. The asari stepped into the shower area and triggered the spray, water streaming down her bare blue skin.  
  
"It's scaly," Miranda thought as she watched Samara run a bar of soap across her slick, glistening body. "Never noticed that before. Wonder how it feels to touch it..."  
  
"Miss Lawson?" Samara said, as she looked over at Miranda with a slight smile. "Am I in your way? These facilities are somewhat compact, I know, but I believe there is room for both of us here."  
  
"Room for... of course," Miranda said, letting out a nervous laugh. For a second there, Samara's words have brought an image to Miranda's mind. Of she and Samara under the same shower, each of them with a bar of soap to lather the other with. Their breasts pressed together as they both huddled under the warm spray, blue against pink, as Samara's alien hands gently reached down to...

Banishing the images from her mind, Miranda cautiously entered the cramped shower area and turned her back to Samara, forcing herself not to glance over her shoulder as she turned on the faucet to her own shower head. She tried to focus on her own hygiene, but she couldn't help picturing the naked alien behind her. Images of Samara stroking and rubbing her sizable breasts, cleaning off every last particle of dirt and grime. Clean enough to lick...  
  
With a rapid jerk, Miranda switched off the shower. In her haste to leave, she stepped back into Samara, and the brief contact of bare flesh hit Miranda like a jolt of electricity. "Sorry," she quickly exclaimed, as she rushed to towel herself off and dress.  
  
Dashing out of the bathroom, she nearly bowled over Jack on her way in. "Fuck, cheerleader," Jack snarled. "Just because you turned from Cerberus's lapdog to Shepard's doesn't mean you..."  
  
"Jack, I'm seriously not in the mood," Miranda snapped. "So do me a favor and don't say another word to me right now."  
  
Jack raised a finger, opening her mouth to continue the tirade of obscenities, but nothing came out. Miranda stared in confusion at the tattooed psychopath as her eyes went wide. Glowering, Jack opened her mouth again, but again she said nothing. Miranda turned to walk away just as Jack started rubbing at her throat.  
  
"Well, that was strange," Miranda thought to herself, but her thoughts about Jack were quickly dashed away by a mental image of Samara's wet, soapy tits. Grimacing, Miranda began walking faster, trying to get as much distance from the area as quickly as possible.  
  
* * *  
  
A few hours later, at work at her terminal, she tried to put the incident out of her mind. But as soon as she would concentrate on the important tasks of helping to run the Normandy, another flash of blue skin would jump unbidden into her mind.  
  
Just as she was unconsciously re-envisioning that sight of Samara bent over, ass and pussy bobbing temptingly in front of Miranda's face, she heard a chime on her terminal. "Miss Lawson, it's Garrus," said the voice from her desk. "When you've got a second, could you stop by the forward battery? I've got a few things I wanted to go over with you."  
  
"Of course," Miranda said, glad for the distraction. "I'll be there in just a minute."  
  
Stepping out of her office, Miranda hung a left into the mess hall. And again, she felt that strange feeling of disquiet she had been having lately whenever she was around the crew, all of them looking up from their meals and smiling cheerfully at her.  
  
At first, she had just chalked it up to the relief they had all felt over the dangerous suicide mission finally being over. Most of them had been minutes away from death when she and Shepard had shown up to pull them out of those pods, and it was only natural that their spirits would be high.  
  
But that had been a month ago, and she would have thought that euphoria would have passed by now. Not only that, but there was something... strange about their near-constant smiles. Something behind their eyes that Miranda couldn't quite place. Conversations seemed to stop whenever Miranda entered a room, and although the entire crew was still friendly to her, she sensed an anxiousness to most of them. As if they were all impatient for something to finally happen.  
  
And then there was a few days ago. For once, two of the crew hadn't noticed she was around, and had continued their conversation while Miranda listened in.  
  
"...almost time..." she'd caught one of them saying. "...only five left..."  
  
"...begins soon..." the other one had said, her voice dreamy and blissful. "...she will punish the transgressors..."  
  
Miranda had questioned them about it, but both of them laughed it off, claiming to be talking about a vid series they both followed. But the way they stared at Miranda, waiting until she was gone before continuing their conversation, made her think that something more was going on here.  
  
But, as long as it didn't interfere with the operations of the Normandy, Miranda supposed it didn't matter. She passed through the silent, smiling group without comment, but then noticed one conversation still going.

"...know this place on the Citadel," said Jacob, as he smiled at the woman sitting across from him. "Serves up a steak to absolutely die for. You do eat meat, right?"  
  
"Uh... yeah," said Kasumi hesitantly. "Yeah, of course I do."  
  
Jacob glanced up at her as she passed by, and Miranda made sure to give them both a smile. Jacob relaxed as he saw her expression, giving her an appreciative nod at the silent sign of approval.  
  
"Good for Jacob," she thought to herself as she made her way to the forward battery. "Just hope she's not just angling to steal his credit chit out from under him."  
  
The door to the forward battery slid open, and Miranda stepped inside to find Garrus in his usual spot. "What can I do for you, Garrus?" she said as she entered. The turian turned away from his terminal to face her.  
  
"Just wanted to give you a status update on the repairs," Garrus said, holding out a datapad for Miranda to view. "We're nearly up to full capacity, but I'm probably going to need a few more parts when we hit the Citadel. I know it's a lot, but if there's any way we can get the credits..."  
  
Miranda looked at the list and nodded. "I think there's still a few more secret Cerberus accounts I have access to. The Illusive Man may like to make people think he knows everything, but I'm sure there's some contacts out there who haven't gotten word that we've gone rogue. I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Thanks," Garrus said, his mandibles twitching in a way that seemed to approximate a turian smile. "The Reapers won't know what hit 'em once I've got these guns up and running at 100%."  
  
"Your hard work is much appreciated," Miranda said. She started to leave, but something caused to pause. Before she even knew she was speaking, she asked, "So, any big plans for our break on the Citadel?"  
  
"Zakera Ward, the upper markets," Garrus said. "Who knows, if you can swing enough credits, maybe I can flash my chit around on the Presidium Commons, get some of the really heavy-duty stuff."  
  
Miranda laughed as she leaned against a workbench, crossing her arms under her breasts. "Not that. I was just curious what you do for fun."  
  
Garrus seemed a little surprised at the sudden personal turn in the conversation, but laughed good-naturedly, "What, you're saying buying lots of big guns isn't fun? I've known turians who taken dates on a shopping spree of the Palaven weapons markets."  
  
"And you, Garrus?" Miranda said, cocking her head. "Where do you take your dates?"  
  
"I... uh..." the question shook Garrus's normally casual demeanor. Nervously chuckling, he said, "Well, you know... between being a vigilante on Omega and fighting off Collectors at the center of the galaxy, haven't had much time for a social life, I'm afraid."  
  
Miranda frowned. "A pity. Because I'm sure there's a lot of ladies out there who would be thrilled to take a tour of those markets with you. Maybe even a few here on the Normandy," she sauntered over to his terminal and moved in close, standing about a foot away from the suddenly very flustered turian. Tossing her hair, she batted her eyes at Garrus. "You ever thought about asking one of them?"  
  
Garrus's mouth opened and closed several times, his eyes darting around the room in sheer panic. "Um... well, that's the problem with working with a former Cerberus crew. Illusive Man doesn't attract a lot of attractive turian ladies to his service, unfortunately."  
  
"Just turians?" Miranda said, her hand drifting over the console toward Garrus's. "You've never considered... other options?"  
  
"Once," Garrus blurted out, as he yanked his hand off the terminal away from Miranda's. "But she didn't... I mean doesn't... uh... Miss Lawson, is this really appr..."  
  
Both of them jumped as the door to the forward battery slid open. "Am I interrupting something?" Diana Shepard said as she saw Miranda leaning in close to Garrus.  
  
The sudden arrival of Shepard snapped Miranda back to reality, as she realized what she had just been doing. "No!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly, as she jumped away from Garrus.  
  
"No, nothing at all," Garrus just as quickly said.

"Well, I'll go see if I can get those credits for you, Garrus," Miranda quickly blurted out, as she dashed for the door. "Thanks again for all the repairs, goodbye!" she shouted over her shoulder as she fled away from the room.  
  
As soon as she was back in her office and at her desk, she clasped her head in her hands. What the hell was going on? First she was ogling Samara in the shower, and then she was flirting with Garrus. It would be one thing if she'd just gone a little too long without companionship and started eyeing up a human or two on the ship. But the **aliens**?  
  
She had always told herself that it didn't have anything to do with any prejudice on her part. Just because she was a member of Cerberus, and had fought to secure more power for humans in the galaxy, didn't mean that she hated aliens.  
  
Before, when he had been using her iPartner encounters to attempt to find a suitable breeding partner, there was no point in visiting the "Cross-Species" subforum. And even if she'd been looking for more than just a sperm donor, there was something about mating with an alien that she found... unsettling.  
  
So to suddenly have these sorts of thoughts flashing through her mind, thoughts that she would have found distasteful before, was confusing the hell out of her.  
  
Before she even knew what she was doing, she found herself navigating to the iPartner site. For one brief moment, her pointer hovered over the "Cross-Species" option, before she quickly swiped over to the "Humans" section. Within five minutes, she'd chosen a man, almost at random, and set up a date for her off-time on the Citadel.  
  
"It's just hormones," she said to herself after she was finished. "Even a perfect genetic specimen has their breaking points, Miri, and you've just hit yours. You've been without for so long that you're seeing sex everywhere."  
  
But even as she assured herself, she found herself thinking about her encounter with Garrus again. That cute way he had gotten flustered when he realized what Miranda was suggesting. She wondered who the lucky human was that Garrus had had his eye on before. What sort of woman would be the type to turn the head of a turian? And what would he do to that woman if he got her alone and...  
  
"Dammit!" Miranda exclaimed. "EDI, how long until we reach the Citadel?"  
  
"Approximately 15 hours, Miss Lawson," replied the voice from the ship's AI.  
  
Miranda had a feeling it would be the longest 15 hours of her life.


	4. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (The Citadel)

"Thanks a lot for wasting my fucking time, bitch," growled ShrpDrsdMn21 (Miranda hadn't bothered to get his real name) as he zipped up his terrible suit. Miranda watched him silently from the bed, the guy giving her one last seething look before heading out the door of the penthouse suite.  
  
Sighing, Miranda laid back and stared at herself in the mirror affixed to the ceiling. What the fuck had happened?  
  
When the door chime had sounded ten minutes earlier, announcing the arrival of the quick fling Miranda had arranged on iPartner, the mood had been just right. As soon as he was inside and the door shut, she had slinked her away around the corner in her sexiest lingerie, fixing the eager man with a hungry, unmistakable look.  
  
But after that was when everything started going wrong. As the man had quickly started to remove his gaudy outfit, Miranda had felt a tingle starting inside her. But not down between her legs as she would have expected, but in her stomach. As the man removed his shirt and revealed his slightly-developed chest, Miranda felt herself start to sweat, not from arousal but from the nausea that was starting to build inside her.  
  
"You ready for it, baby?" the man grinned cockily. "Ready to see the beast?"  
  
"Oh... urp... oh, I'm ready," Miranda tried to sound as sexy as possible, all while her lunch threatened to eject itself all over the guy's pride and joy. "At least it couldn't make his clothes look any worse," she thought, and had to hold back the urge to laugh. Guys tended to take that the wrong way in the bedroom.  
  
But in the end, the mood was pretty much ruined before it had started. As the guy yanked down his pants to reveal his intimidating five-inch member, Miranda clutched at her stomach and moaned.  
  
"Don't worry, baby," the man assured her. "I'll be gentle with ya."  
  
"I can't do this," she had said, sitting down on the bed and wishing she could use her biotics to keep her stomach from rolling around inside her. "I... think I might have eaten something that disagreed with me."  
  
"You fucking kidding me?" the guy snapped. "I had to take off early from the Game Shop to come here!"  
  
And when it was clear to ShrpDrsdMn21 that there would be no sex for him tonight, he had quickly gotten dressed and left in a huff. Almost as soon as he had left the room, Miranda felt the nausea pass.  
  
To be replaced with the arousal that had driven her to make this idiotic date in the first place.  
  
Slipping a hand underneath the waistband of her sheer black panties, Miranda idly played with herself, knowing it wasn't going to do the trick. What the hell was wrong with her? Her body was sending her unmistakable signals right now, and stronger than she had ever experienced before in her life. And although the poor guy had had terrible fashion sense, he certainly had been attractive enough for a cheap fuck, at the very least.  
  
So why did the very thought of him even touching her make her want to heave?  
  
Closing her eyes and rubbing herself faster, Miranda tried to think about Jacob. That amazing body, that way he would whisper her name into her ear just as he entered her. But the thoughts of Jacob were getting overwhelmed by images of Samara's naked crotch in her face. Of Garrus, and what strange and beautiful alien biology was hidden under that armor. She made another attempt to envision Jacob's naked torso, but his dark, smooth skin was turning green and scaly in her mind, and soon it was Thane who was walking toward her, touching her, reaching down between her...  
  
"Fine!" Miranda finally exclaimed to herself. "But you know it's going to go poorly," she added as she grabbed her omnitool and accessed the extranet. Navigating quickly, she opened up a new post window, her fingers flying as she typed.  
  
"EMERGENCY! Horny and alone, need a man, any man, NOW!"  
  
With a subject line like that, and her picture attached to her profile, the time to the first response could be measured in nano-seconds.  
  
* * *

Two minutes after choosing her partner, the door chimed again. "Come in," she called, throwing on a white robe over her sheer underwear. She wasn't quite ready to commit to this crazy idea just yet.  
  
The door opened, and a nervous salarian stepped inside. "Uh, hi," he said, always a smooth introduction. "You're... uh... LawBringerSR2?"  
  
"Miranda, please," she gave him a comforting smile as she walked over to him. "You're EarthFanRTNMLPA?"  
  
The salarian nodded, taking a quick glance down at Miranda's robed body before quickly returning his gaze to her face. "It's Rannadar Telios Nim... uh..." he chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, you can just call me Aren."  
  
"Why don't you come over here, Aren?" Miranda said, tracing her fingers slowly down his arm before taking him by the three-fingered hand and leading him toward the bed.  
  
"Su... sure," Aren stammered, quickly following Miranda to sit on the edge of the mattress. He bounced his legs nervously as Miranda sat down next to him, avoiding her eyes.  
  
Miranda smiled at him, trying her best to put him at ease. "I have to admit, I was surprised to see you answer my iPartner post." Reaching down, she laid a gentle hand on the alien's thigh. "Most salarians aren't that... eager."  
  
Aren gave her a sheepish smile and started nervously babbling. "Well, that's just the way I've always been, I guess. Even when I was in school, I was always so different from the other guys. They were into advanced calculus, theoretical physics... all the cool stuff. Me, I was into... well..."  
  
"Sex?" Miranda said, giving Aren's thigh a light squeeze.  
  
"I guess," Aren said, staring down at Miranda's groping hand like it was a spider about to jump into his face. "I mean, salarian girls never really... I didn't really think they were..."  
  
Miranda raised her hand from Aren's lap to lightly stroke his cheek. "I understand. So, 'EarthFan,' what turned you on to human women? Why not, say, an asari?"  
  
Aren rubbed the back of his neck. "I dunno. Asari are... I mean, by the time they've reached puberty, they've lived longer than most salarians do their whole life! How are you supposed to relate to that, you know? And humans are... you're just so much more..."  
  
"Shh," Miranda said, as she got to her feet and moved to stand in front of him. "No need to put it into words, Aren," she said, whipping her robe open and throwing it to the floor, revealing her nearly naked form to the nervous alien. "Show me how much you want this human body."  
  
Eyes wide, Aren hesitated at first, but finally stood up and moved close to the barely-dressed human offering her body to him. Hands shaking, he reached up towards her chest, staring down at her breasts like he was afraid they would explode if he touched them the wrong way.  
  
"Here," Miranda said. Aren gasped as she grabbed his wrists and boldly placed his hands on her breasts.  
  
The feeling was... indescribable. A few days ago, the thought of having an alien's hands all over her body like this would have made her feel... well, like she felt with the asshole with poor fashion sense just thirty minutes ago. But the unfamiliar sensation of three-fingered hands awkwardly groping her breasts was making her breath come hard and fast.  
  
She pulled his hands away just long enough to unhook the front of her bra, and then directed him to continue rubbing and stroking her now-bare tits. After several minutes of this, Miranda felt like she was about to burst. Grabbing one of Aren's wrists again, Miranda directed his hand downward, to press against her soaked panties.  
  
"I..." Aren stammered, while his fingers rubbed tentatively at Miranda's slit. "I've never done this before," he finally admitted.  
  
Miranda smiled, "That's okay. I've never done it with a salarian before. We've both get to learn a few things tonight." Pushing up right next to him, Miranda slowly slid her body down his, until she was on her knees in front of the virgin salarian.

"Ohhhhh," the salarian moaned as Miranda loosened his belt and slid his pants to the floor. Interesting, she thought to herself. Despite their different breeding methods, salarian cock wasn't all that dissimilar from the human variety. For a brief second, the image of a human penis in her mind brought back the nausea she'd felt earlier, but she focused on the throbbing alien organ in front of her and the sensation passed.  
  
Aren let out a gasp as Miranda darted her tongue out to lap at the head of his stiffening prick. Staring up into his eyes, she swirled her tongue around and around the tip of the alien cock, before running her lips wetly up and down the length of it.  
  
After several minutes of slow oral attention, Miranda pulled away and grinned up at the salarian. "So, are human girls everything you imagined?" she asked.  
  
The weak moan that Aren let out was answer enough for Miranda. Standing up, she reached to the waistband of her dripping panties and cast them off. Moving onto the bed, she crawled on her hands and knees, presenting her ass to Aren.  
  
"Take me," Miranda huskily moaned, "Take me like a filthy fucking animal."  
  
Wait, what? Where had that come from? Miranda didn't have time to wonder why she'd said something like that, though, because the previous terrified Aren was now rapidly getting into position, aiming his cock at her moist slit.  
  
Aren entered her, and Miranda let out a loud moan. "Oh, God, yes," she exclaimed, as Aren began thrusting inside her. "Slap my ass," she blurted out, the words coming out without her even consciously being aware of it.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Slap. My. Ass," Miranda said through gritted teeth. Confused, but too into what was happening to object, Aren delivered a light slap to one of Miranda's asscheeks. "Harder," she demanded, and when the next blow was just as weak, she snapped at him. "Is that all you've got, you fucking pussy? Slap my ass as hard as you can!"  
  
Eyes narrowing, Aren reared back and delivered a hard blow to Miranda's ass, so forceful that it buckled Miranda's knees. "Yes, again!" Miranda cried out, and squealed in delight as another firm slap left a red mark on her backside. As Aren thrust and slapped, Miranda felt like she was going out of her mind with pleasure.  
  
"Fuck me," Miranda babbled, thrusting back against the salarian's cock and wincing in exquisite pain as another rough blow rained down on her now beet-red ass. "Fuck me harder, you alien bastard. Fuck your filthy fucking human whore. Put your cum in me and throw me away like fucking garbage."  
  
She didn't even care what she was saying anymore, letting the stream of filthy, self-degrading language spill out of her mouth without thinking. When she felt Aren's load start to spurt inside of her, her own orgasm hit like an asari dreadnought. By the time the waves of pleasure and bodily spasms had subsided, Aren was already out of bed and nearly dressed.  
  
"Uh..." Aren was stammering again, staring at Miranda strangely. "I gotta go. This was... uh... thanks?" The shaken salarian had barely fastened the last piece of his clothing before he was fleeing out the door.  
  
Letting out a satisfied sigh, Miranda rolled onto her back, looking up to see a sweating, satisfied woman with salarian cum dripping out of her pussy reflected on the ceiling.  
  
Reaching down between her legs, Miranda scooped up as much of Aren's load as she could on her fingers, before bringing her hand up to her mouth and starting to lick it off. The taste was bitter, but still so delicious.  
  
"Well, Miri," she thought to herself as she sucked the last drops of cum off her fingers. "Mark it in the history books. Your first fuck with an alien."  
  
"And definitely not the last," said another voice in her head. One that she wasn't entirely sure was hers.  
  
* * *

"What the..." Shepard stared from the airlock door as Miranda made her way up the gangway of the Normandy.  
  
Very, VERY slowly made her way up the gangway, stepping gingerly but still wincing at the throbbing pain in her backside. "Don't ask," she said to Shepard. "How did things go with you?"  
  
Ever since what happened on the Migrant Fleet, Shepard's smiles were a rare occasion. So it gave Miranda a good feeling to see a happy expression come to her commander's face. "Great. I shouldn't have even worried."  
  
"I'm happy for you, Shepard," Miranda said. "You and..."  
  
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud clatter from behind them. They both turned to see Jack cursing as she struggled with something on the ground.  
  
When Jack turned around, Miranda heard Shepard let out a muffled guffaw. The hard-nosed psychopath was wearing a frilly pink blouse over her usually nearly-naked torso. And in her arms were about twenty cans of Tupari, the pile of soft drinks barely balanced in the convict's tattooed arms.  
  
"Jack, why do..." Shepard started to say.  
  
"Don't fucking ask," Jack snarled, as she went through the airlock onto the Normandy.  
  
Shepard raised an eyebrow at Miranda. "Looks like the rest of the crew had a much more interesting day than I did."  
  
Thinking back to her rough encounter with the nervous salarian, Miranda couldn't help but smile a little. "I guess so. Suppose we..."  
  
"Quick, coast is clear!" called out a voice from behind them. Both of them turned to see Jacob and Kasumi dashing up the gangway. Both of them in their underwear, and soaking wet.  
  
Giggling, Kasumi breezed past Miranda and Shepard onto the Normandy. Jacob made to follow her, but stopped in front of the two commanding officers. "Don't..."  
  
"Wasn't even gonna ask," Shepard quickly interjected. A trail of water dripping behind him, Jacob briskly entered the Normandy.  
  
"I think we'd better get going," Shepard said, adding with a smirk, "before Garrus walks up in a bowtie and stripper pants."  
  
Miranda nodded, "Definitely," she said, although she ended up hanging onto that image for a good long time afterward.


	5. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (Before Illium)

"Don't say anything to me," Jack snapped as she stepped out of the yeoman's office, fixing Miranda with a dire expression. "Don't tell me to do anything, don't... urgh!" Holding her hands over her ears, Jack dashed away from Miranda while singing some vulgar drinking song at the top of her voice.  
  
"A therapy session with Jack?" Miranda asked as she stepped into the room and smiled at Kelly. "I can't imagine that was very productive."  
  
Giving Miranda a warm grin back, Kelly gestured toward the chair across from her desk. "You'd be surprised, actually," she said as she grabbed a tissue to wipe at her nose and face. "Jack can be quite pleasant to be around, if you take the time to make her open up to you."  
  
Miranda seriously doubted that, but she didn't want to spend her appointed time with Kelly discussing her least-favorite person. "I suppose that's why the Illusive Man chose you for this position," Miranda said, crossing her legs demurely as she sat. "You just have a way with people."  
  
"Not as much as some others on the ship," Kelly said, her green eyes suddenly averting from Miranda's and going distant.  
  
Miranda smiled, knowing who Kelly was thinking about. "Shepard does have quite a way with words herself. Some of the situations she's gotten us out of just by saying the right thing..."  
  
Blinking, Kelly looked confused for a moment. "What? Oh, right, Shepard. Yes, she's... persuasive, I suppose," saying it in a tone that didn't sound entirely enthusiastic. Shaking her head, Kelly regained the smile on her face and her normal bubbly tone. "Anyway, we're not here to talk about Shepard or Jack. I'm surprised you came to see me. Not that you're not welcome, but you've always been one of the most stable members of this crew."  
  
Miranda laughed nervously. "It's silly, really. Such a stupid thing to get hung up about. But lately I've been... well, I've had a lot on my mind."  
  
"Well, the floor is yours, Miss Lawson," Kelly said, leaning forward and crossing her hands on her desk. "Just say whatever comes to mind. I'm here to listen, not to judge."  
  
And with that invitation, Miranda started telling Kelly everything. She could feel a flush come to her face as she described her shower room encounter with Samara, and went on to relate her awkward flirting with Garrus. Followed by figuring how best to tell Kelly about her rendezvous with Aren the salarian without it coming off as one of those fake letters in those Fornax magazines that she had just recently been reading religiously.  
  
"Miranda, if you want me to tell you the feelings you're having for aliens are wrong, you definitely came to the wrong place," Kelly told her after she was finished. "Deep down inside, we're all just people, no matter what we look like on the outside. The fact that you're coming to realize that is a good thing, don't you think?"  
  
"It's not just that I'm attracted to aliens, Kelly," Miranda admitted. "It's that... lately, it feels like that's all I can think about. You know the cameras we have posted around the ship?" Kelly nodded. "Well... lately I've been... watching them. The aliens, I mean. Watching them on the cameras, making excuses for them to come to my office. I'm afraid it might start affecting my duties on the ship."  
  
Kelly considered this for a moment. "Have you tried broaching the subject with any of them? It's possible they might be open to such things, you know?"  
  
Miranda shook her head. "No, it wouldn't be appropriate to... fraternize with the crew like that. Plus, it's not what..."  
  
She was silent for a long time, and Kelly finally prodded. "Please, Miranda, go ahead and say what's on your mind."

"When I'm around them... lately I've been beginning to fantasize about..." Miranda stared at her feet and cursed. "Dammit, if I were just looking for some good conversation and a romp in the sack every so often, that would be one thing. But every time I see one of the aliens on the ship, all I can think about is them... taking me. I want them to tear off my clothes, shove me against a wall, and claim me as their prize. I want the whole crew to watch me get dominated, get... violated by an alien."  
  
"Miranda, there's no need to be ashamed. Rape fantasies are more common than you think. And in your situation, it actually makes a lot of sense."  
  
"Really?" Miranda wasn't sure she followed. She'd always enjoyed being the dominant one in bed before this all started.  
  
But Kelly was quick to explain. "You yourself said that you had never considered taking an alien as a lover before the last few weeks. So a part of you is still hesitating about it, still considers inter-species sex something weird and perverse. If **you** were the one to set your sights on an alien and try to seduce him, then your subconscious is saying you're crossing a line that you shouldn't. But if the alien takes you, if it's out of your control, then in your mind, you're not doing anything wrong."  
  
Miranda sighed. "But if that's the case... what do I do about it? Walk out onto the CIC, do a strip tease, and invite every alien on the ship to come take a turn?" Though she said the words with sarcasm, she felt a pleasant shudder run through her body at the thought.  
  
Kelly saucily winked. "An appealing idea, but I don't think we need to go that far yet." Reaching down to a datapad, Kelly tapped out a few characters and passed it over to Miranda.  
  
"What's this, a prescription?" Miranda said.  
  
"A club," Kelly said. "Just the kind of place for someone looking to explore their sexier side. We'll be on Illium in two days. Go out, find yourself somebody - human, alien, doesn't matter - and have some fun with them. Tell them all your dirtiest fantasies. If they're not into it, then whatever. Chances are you'll never see them again. But if they are, then maybe you can get a chance to work out all that tension you've built up."  
  
Miranda had to laugh. "So, 'go out and get fucked,' that's your advice," she said mirthfully.  
  
"Hey, I'm an expert at these things," Kelly quipped back. "Oh, and one more thing," Kelly said, as she pointed at Miranda's torso. "You are **so** not going out in that."


	6. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (Illium)

"Oooh, come on in, hot stuff," said the turian bouncer at the door of Wavelength, waving Miranda in and gawking at her as she entered.  
  
This had been a mistake. Miranda should have known from the beginning, when she had barely squeezed herself into the pink spangled dress Kelly had loaned her. While she was sure it fit Kelly like a glove, she and Miranda had very different measurements. Miranda's breasts seemed like they were one false breath away from springing from captivity, and as much as she had tugged on the bottom of the outfit before sneaking off the Normandy and heading for the club, Miranda's ass felt like it was only barely covered by the short skirt. In the too-small dress, high-heels, and the makeup Kelly had insisted she wear, Miranda felt ridiculous.  
  
Walking through the dark hallway onto the main dance floor, Miranda began to feel even more uncomfortable. She had never been one for the singles scene; small-talk bored her, and she much preferred the more predictable option of online dating than the randomness of picking up some strange guy in a bar.  
  
She could feel stares on her as she made her way to the bar. Ordering a strawberry daiquiri, Miranda resolved to not let the night go totally to waste. She'd have a few drinks, loosen up a little, and then get back to the Normandy as soon as possible, before anybody saw her dolled up like a street-walker.  
  
For a while, she was able to enjoy her drink in peace. She saw several men, humans and aliens, glancing at her around the room, but none of them seemed to have the nerve to actually come up and talk to her.  
  
"What's wrong, guys?" Miranda thought to herself with a mental chuckle. "I'm just a perfect genetic specimen, what could **possibly** be intimidating about that?"

But eventually, as she was ordering her second drink, somebody finally worked up the nerve. "That one's on me," said a dark-haired human man as he sidled up next to her at the bar.  
  
"That's alright," Miranda said, pulling her own credit chit out of her handbag before her potential suitor could retrieve his.  
  
The man was unfazed by her refusal. "Hey, I'm Liam," he waited a second for Miranda to respond and then, when Miranda said nothing, plowed on ahead. "Haven't seen you around here before. Would have definitely remembered if I had. You come in on that luxury transport?"  
  
Realizing that silence wouldn't drive him away, Miranda finally turned to acknowledge her unwelcome drinking companion. When she finally got a good look at him, though, she had to admit that he was actually quite handsome. Deep brown eyes, a well-trimmed beard, and a smile that would turn just about any woman's knees to jelly.  
  
She arched her eyebrows at him. "Actually, I came in on the Normandy."  
  
"Right, on the Normandy, su..." Liam hesitated. "No way, really?" When Miranda nodded, he reached up to run an hand through his short, dark hair, looking genuinely impressed. "Wow, that's pretty amazing. What are the odds: the most famous ship in the galaxy, having the most beautiful woman in the galaxy on it?"  
  
It was a cheesy line, but the way Liam delivered it like he knew just how bad it was, Miranda couldn't help but laugh. Liam saw her cool expression finally break and gave an exaggerated shrug of the shoulders as if to say, "Hey, it's the best I could do," which only make Miranda laugh more.  
  
"So, mystery crewmate of Commander Shepard," Liam said, extending a hand to her. "Mind telling me your name so I can write it down in the history books?"  
  
She took his hand gently. "It's Mir..."  
  
Oh, no. No, no, not again. Forcing down the bile that was trying to force its way up her throat, she coughed and tried again. "Miranda."  
  
"Well, Mirmiranda," Liam said with a smirk, raising her hand up to his lips. "How about you finish off that drink and we go see if you can dance any better than your senior officer?"  
  
It took all of Miranda's willpower not to puke all over the bar when Liam's lips met the back of her hand.  
  
"I... appreciate the offer, really," Miranda said, trying her best to keep her voice natural even as she felt like her whole body was about to collapse. "But I... I really don't dance."  
  
"Hey, great, neither do I!" Liam said, as he kept his hold on Miranda's hand and tried to lightly pull her towards the dance floor. "But trust me, you haven't lived until you see me get out there and awkwardly gyrate."  
  
"Dammit, dammit, **dammit**!" Miranda thought to herself as she resisted Liam's attempts to get her up and dance, worried to even step off the barstool for fear of collapsing into a vomiting heap. "There's nothing wrong with this guy, Miri! What the hell is your problem?"  
  
Seeing that his attempts were in vain, Liam sighed and returned to the barstool next to Miranda. "I get it, I get it. Gotta save up that energy for defending the galaxy from killer robots."  
  
"Look, Liam," Miranda said, trying to smile at the man, even as the very sight of him was starting to disgust her. "You're really sweet and funny and..."  
  
Liam sighed. "You know, you'd think that sentences that start that way would be something to look forward to, but they never are."  
  
"I'm just... I'm not really..." Miranda tried to come up with a good excuse to let the guy down gently, the truth of "you make me want to puke" probably not the best way to go.  
  
"Hey, there you are, babe," said a voice to the other side of Miranda. She turned just in time to see a face coming fast at hers, before she was being roughly pulled into a deep, wet kiss. Too shocked to pull away, she let out a squeal as she felt a hand slap down onto her ass and start rubbing.  
  
When the new arrival finally pulled away, Miranda was finally able to see that she had just been kissed by a fierce-looking asari maiden, several light scars on her face along with a wicked grin being shot over Miranda's shoulder.

"Hey, who's your friend?" the asari asked as she stared at Liam.  
  
Miranda turned to see the deflated man get to his feet. "I was just leaving, actually," Liam said as he walked away, eyes scanning the club for his next prospect. Miranda tried to make herself feel disappointed, but was too glad to have the nauseous feeling in her stomach finally dissipate to work up too much sorrow over Liam's departure.  
  
She turned back to the asari, who was ordering straight whiskey from the bartender. Once she had the glass in her hand, the asari knocked it back in one breath before turning to Miranda. "Saw you squirming over there like a fish on a hook, figured you could use a hand."  
  
"A hand, sure, but not necessarily one on my ass," Miranda said, trying to sound annoyed even though she wasn't entirely feeling it.  
  
The asari shrugged, but offered no apology. "You put it on display like that, just couldn't resist," she said, staring down at Miranda's backside without any trace of subtlety, one eyebrow arched in appreciation.  
  
Turning away from the asari, Miranda tried to return to her drink. But she kept feeling herself compelled to glance over at the asari next to her, now tipping back her second glass of whiskey.  
  
Finally, Miranda couldn't stop herself from speaking up. "I'm Miranda," she said to the asari.  
  
"That's great," the asari deadpanned. Giving Miranda the slightest glance, she finally answered, "Lanira."  
  
That was the extent of their conversation for a while. Finally, Miranda started to speak again. "So what do you..."  
  
"Look, I hate fucking around," Lanira cut her off. "You want to get out of here?"  
  
Miranda was surprised at the asari's sudden boldness. And even more surprised when she heard herself answering, "Yes."  
  
"Fine, come with me," Lanira tossed several wadded up bills of the local Illium currency onto the bar. "I know a place where we can have a lot more fun."  
  
And the asari turned to walk out without checking to make sure Miranda was following her. But Miranda was, having to keep a quick pace in her high heels to keep up with the strides of the rough asari maiden.  
  
* * *  
  
"In here," Lanira finally said after several minutes of walking. She triggered the door of a plain-looking building, and stepped aside for Miranda to enter first.  
  
"You said there was a party in here?" Miranda said, starting to get a little nervous. The room inside the door was dark, and Miranda had to step cautiously to keep from tripping. "I don't hear anybody."  
  
"Party didn't start until now, babe," said Lanira, as she stepped into the building behind Miranda and shut the door. "Because, see... you're the party."  
  
As the door behind her locked, the lights came on, and Miranda found herself in some sort of barracks. Lockers against the walls, simple cots for sleeping, weapons hung on display.  
  
Her eyes adjusting to the bright lights, Miranda finally saw that she and Lanira were not alone. Three more asari were standing in front of them, eyes roaming up and down Miranda.  
  
And then Miranda glanced down herself to see that the women were wearing combat armor with a distinctive logo.  
  
"Eclipse," Miranda muttered.

"Not just any Eclipse, bitch," said one of the three other maidens. "You're in the presence of the Sisterhood. The best the Eclipse have to offer."  
  
"'The best' didn't stand up too well to Shepard, from what I remember," Miranda thought to herself. She thanked whatever gods above there were that Shepard hadn't brought her along to recruit Samara. If these asari had recognized her as one of Shepard's comrades, Miranda had little doubt that she'd already be dead.  
  
Another of the three asari whistled between her teeth. "Shit, Lanira, you sure can pick 'em. This is definitely the hottest one you've brought back here."  
  
"Damn right," Lanira said, coming up behind Miranda. Gripping the fabric of Kelly's borrowed dress, Lanira roughly yanked it down. Miranda gasped as her bare breasts spilled out into the cool air. "I mean, you see these fucking tits?" Lanira reached around to grab Miranda's breasts, her fingers roughly pressing into Miranda's flesh as she kneaded the large mounds eagerly.  
  
"Ohhhh..." Miranda let out a moan, unable to hold it back. She struggled weakly to escape from Lanira's grip, which only caused Lanira to grip her tighter. Miranda felt her nipples stiffen painfully underneath the asari's palms.  
  
Her hands still working at Miranda's chest, Lanira leaned down to speak low into her ear. "See, the Sisterhood just finished a huge contract, human, and we've got ourselves a little tradition whenever that happens."  
  
The third asari continued. "It's to find a soft little piece of ass like you and fuck her brains out."  
  
"You like the sound of that, human?" Lanira said. "Well, not that it matters, because it's gonna happen anyway, whether you want it to or not."

Miranda watched with wide eyes as the three other asari mercs begin removing their armor. Her rational mind was telling her that she needed to find a way out of this situation, and fast. While one of Lanira's hands left Miranda's breast to begin sliding down her waist, Miranda had already formulated a strategy to fire off a warp field into the crowd of stripping asari, drive an elbow into Lanira's abdomen, and then make a break for it. The lock on the door would take seconds for her omni-tool to crack, and then she'd be free.  
  
It was an excellent plan, one that she was almost positive would work. So what the hell was stopping her from putting it into motion?  
  
Lanira's rough, seeking hand finally found its target: the bottom hem of Miranda's dress. While her other hand continued roughly groping at Miranda's tit, the hand below Miranda's waist began hiking up her dress.  
  
"Look at that!" said one of the asari mercs, she and her comrades now down to nothing but their underwear. "You forget something when you got dressed, human slut?"  
  
Miranda felt her cheeks turn red. Underneath the skirt, the only thing she was wearing was the small dark patch of hair above her tingling pussy. She'd felt so deliciously naughty when she'd thrown her panties back in the drawer, her mind filled with images of some turian male lifting up her dress and bending her over in an alley. Now, watching these asari laugh at her brazenness, she was starting to regret the decision.  
  
"Do it!" her rational mind was screaming at her. "You're running out of time! They're unarmed, they have no armor on... what the hell are you waiting for?"  
  
And then Lanira's fingers began stroking the nub of Miranda's clit, and all rational thought immediately fled Miranda's mind, lost in the ecstatic sensations that seemed to stimulate every nerve in her body at once.  
  
"Look at the little slut," said one of the asari with a rough laugh. "She loves it, Lanira."  
  
The asari's hand worked busily between Miranda's legs, while Miranda squirmed in her grasp. But her struggles were no longer out of a desire to escape; in fact, she was humping her hips forward against Lanira's talented fingers, trying her best to press them harder against her pulsing, dripping sex.  
  
"Aediri!" Lanira called out to one of the other asari, with light-blue skin, the lean but muscular body of a swimmer, and dark tattoos covering almost every inch of her arms. "Go get the stuff." While the tattooed asari went through a door into another room, Lanira shoved Miranda toward the other two asari. In her high heels, Miranda made it two steps before tumbling forward, the taller of the two remaining asari catching her.  
  
"Careful, now," she said, leering down at Miranda's naked body with undisguised lust. "Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself now. Well, no more than Masia here is going to."  
  
Miranda took a look over at Masia, indigo-colored and with the largest muscles Miranda had ever seen on an asari. Reaching down, Masia grabbed a handful of Miranda's bare ass, giving it a rough squeeze and a few jiggles. "Shit, human," the muscular asari stared down at Miranda's curvy backside. "You've got an ass made for spanking, you know that?" Rearing back, she delivered a hard slap to Miranda's ass, the crack of the impact followed quickly by Miranda's surprised cry.  
  
"Get her down on the floor," Lanira said, and Miranda looked behind her to see that she had stripped off her clothing as well, and wore only her panties as she watched her comrades groping at Miranda.  
  
The two asari ordered her down on her hands and knees, and Miranda meekly complied. Aediri returned to the room and dropped a box on the floor at Miranda's side, the contents letting out a rattle at the impact. While Lanira and Masia started digging through the container, Aediri and the last asari moved into position in front of Miranda.

"Look at her, Dalis," Aediri huskily muttered into her comrade's earhole. "She's fucking begging for it." She moved to stand behind Dalis, her tattooed arms reaching up to caress the other asari's breasts. Unhooking Dalis's bra, Aediri pulled it away to reveal mounds that would make a matriarch jealous. The two of them kissed passionately as they both sank slowly to the floor, Dalis spreading her legs and moving until Miranda's face was situated directly in front of her crotch.  
  
Aediri reached down to the crotch of Dalis's panties, pulling them aside to reveal the dark-blue pussy lips underneath. "What are you waiting for, human?" Aediri said, resting her chin on Dalis's shoulder and staring down at Miranda impatiently. "The sooner you get that tongue to work, the sooner this'll all be over."  
  
Tentatively, Miranda extended her tongue. She'd certainly never done anything like this before, with a human woman much less an asari. But Miranda had pleasured herself enough to know what felt good to her, and she hoped that the asari anatomy was similar enough to humans that all the same buttons could be pushed.  
  
Just as the tip of her tongue hit Dalis's folds, Miranda heard a soft buzzing sound from behind her. She tried to turn to look, but she suddenly found two thick blue thighs locked around her head, Dalis telling her without words that the time for stalling had passed.  
  
As she began lapping at the asari's pussy in earnest, she felt something cold and metal start to vibrate against her clit. One of the other asari must have retrieved a vibrator from the box of "toys," and was teasingly rubbing it between Miranda's legs. Whichever one of them it was, they were doing an excellent job at driving Miranda crazy. Just as the buzzing sensation between her legs was about ready to drive her to climax, it was pulled away. Miranda would have voiced a protest if she thought it would have mattered, and if her tongue wasn't already busy lapping up the sweet juices leaking from Dalis's warm snatch.  
  
"My turn," Miranda heard the deep voice of Masia, and then let out a shriek as something hard and flat slapped against her tender ass. She struggled to concentrate on the oral task in front of her, while another new blow, from what Miranda assumed was some sort of paddle, would rain down on her ass every few seconds.  
  
Finally, Miranda felt Dalis's thighs loosen around her head, while she jerked her hips forward and fluids flooded out of her pussy. The satisfied asari moved away, only for Aediri to take her place, directing Miranda to get back to work.  
  
It went on that way for hours, the four asari mercenaries rotating positions. One would thrust her crotch into Miranda's face, while two behind her would alternate between pleasuring her with the vibrator and punishing her with the paddle. Miranda felt like she was going to explode, the four asari keeping her on the brink of orgasm for so long that she thought she might go insane. At one point, one of them reached into the box and pulled out a pair of gleaming metal nipple clamps. Miranda had winced as they had attached the tight clips to her stiff nipples, but she was shocked to find that the added sensation of pain only heightened the pleasure she was deriving from this degrading experience.  
  
Finally, after she had licked all four of them to orgasm at least twice, her face glistening with their juices, Miranda felt herself get shoved down flat against the floor. Whoever was operating the vibrator pressed it hard against Miranda's clit, and Miranda could feel her climax start to hit.  
  
"So, human," she could barely hear Lanira with the blood rushing through her ears. "Do you like being the Sisterhood's slut?"  
  
"Yes," she quickly answered, bucking her hips against the vibrator between her thighs. "Yes, I love it. I fucking love being a dirty slut.... ohhhh!" She could feel the floor getting damp underneath her as her fluids began flowing out of her. After a minute of spasms and squeals of delight, she finally went limp.  
  
Standing up, Lanira signaled to Aediri. "Glad to hear it, slut. Because the Sisterhood has one last gift for you before we go. Just a little something to remember us by."

"What..." Miranda started to roll over, but soon found herself pinned to the ground. She couldn't see what was happening from her position, but from the one last slap that struck her ass, Miranda guessed that the massive Masia was crouching over her back, holding her in place. When Miranda felt her ankles each being gripped by a pair of powerful hands, the fear she'd felt when she first stepped into this room returned.  
  
"Right there," Miranda heard Lanira say. And that's when she felt the needle piercing her sore ass.  
  
"No, they're drugging me," were Miranda's first thoughts, along with vivid images of her being knocked unconscious and dragged back to some grimy mercenary lair to be used as the Sisterhood's personal sex slave. But when she felt the needle penetrate again, and several times more, she soon realized what was actually happening and jolted in shock.  
  
"Don't struggle, now," she heard Aediri say, while the painful piercing sensations continued. "Or we'll have to start all over."  
  
Miranda lost track of how long she was pinned there, the asari mercs joking with each other while Aediri finished up her task. Once the needles had stopped being inserted, she felt the cold sensation of medigel being sprayed over the area. After a few minutes more, Masia's weight finally lifted off her.  
  
"Absolutely perfect," Lanira said. Looking over her shoulder, Miranda saw the asari directing a handheld mirror towards Miranda's ass. There, against the reddened skin of her abused backside, Miranda saw a dark tattoo with the unmistakable logo of Eclipse.  
  
"Congratulations," Aediri said, packing up the tattoo kit and making her way towards her discarded armor. "You're now an official Sisterhood whore. Next time you're on Illium, look us up and we'll give you another just like that one."  
  
While Miranda lay on the floor, too spent and tired to even move, the four asari mercs dressed and made their way to the door. The last to leave, Lanira turned before stepping out and stared down at Miranda. "Here, get yourself a taxi," she said, while tossing a handful of Illium coins at Miranda's prone body. Laughing, Lanira departed.  
  
After some time to marshal her energy, Miranda finally managed to rise to her feet. Stepping over to the discarded mirror, Miranda used it to again study the tattoo the Sisterhood had left on her body.  
  
It was a pointless act, more a way to humiliate her than an actual permanent mark. Getting a tattoo removed was a trivial matter; she could have Dr. Chakwas take it off and be back to duty within an hour.  
  
"But then you'd have to explain where it came from," Miranda thought to herself. And it was a funny thing. The more she stared at that black mark of shame on her ass, the more she sort of liked it.  
  
"Next time you're on Illium, look us up and we'll give you another just like that one," Lanira had said, and Miranda found herself pivoting the mirror to consider what would be the best spot for the next one. And the one after that. Maybe even a few Blue Suns and Blood Pack symbols to match.  
  
Thoughts of what she'd have to do to earn those symbols kept a pleasant tingle going through Miranda's body all the way back to the Normandy.  
  
* * *  
  
"...crazy, she wants me to pull all the surveillance vids from the Normandy from the past two months," Miranda heard Joker saying as she stepped through the Normandy airlock. "I mean, even if something was going on that we didn't notice, EDI'd have to have seen it, right?"  
  
Garrus was leaning against the bulkhead as he chatted with Joker, looking sexy as hell in that scarred-up armor. "Shepard isn't the type to be paranoid without a reason, Joker. Maybe something's..." he turned to see who had arrived on the ship, and his jaw just about dropped to Deck 5. "Miranda, you... that dress..."  
  
"You like it?" Miranda said, sauntering up to Garrus and placing a light finger on his chest. "Kelly loaned to me. Maybe next time we're on shore leave, you'll get another chance to see me in it." Turning to walk away, she paused to arch an eyebrow at Garrus and add, "Or maybe even... out of it."

Making her way toward the elevators, she stopped for a moment and glanced back over her shoulder at Garrus. With a wink, she tugged slightly at the pink dress. Garrus made a sound like he'd swallowed his tongue as the adjustment put Miranda's bare ass on display, still slightly red and with the Eclipse tattoo plainly visible. Swinging her hips as she walked, she made sure Garrus got one hell of a show as she casually strolled away.


	7. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (Before Omega)

Soon after she arrived back on the ship, Shepard announced that there was a change in the patrol schedule they had settled into after defeating the Collectors. Setting a course for Omega, Shepard ordered Joker to get them there as fast as possible. Miranda didn't know why it was so important to reach Omega quickly, and for some reason Shepard was being strangely cagey, refusing to tell her or anyone else about what the plans were once they got there.  
  
But really, Miranda didn't care all that much. She had other, more important things to deal with right now.  
  
"It seems I have become a popular conversation partner today," said Samara as Miranda sat cross-legged across from her. "After working alone for so long, it is strange to be in such a... friendly environment. But your company is welcome, Miss Lawson."  
  
Miranda smiled at the serene asari. "Thank you, Samara. Although I have to admit, I'm surprised you're being so accommodating. After all, I was a member of Cerberus."  
  
Samara's expression darkened slightly. "The Illusive Man's crimes are many and terrible, yes. And were you still in his service, the Code might compel me to bring you to justice," she gave Miranda a reassuring smile. "But you are not, and his crimes are not your crimes. And you have taken no action during our service together that would require me to oppose you. Do not worry, Miss Lawson; I have no quarrel with you."  
  
"I'm glad to hear it. With all the rules and regulations justicars have to follow, I would have been sure I was in violation of one of them," she laughed lightly. Samara did not return the gesture, her eyes drifting down to look curiously at the two items Miranda had brought in with her: a datapad, and a long item wrapped in cloth.  
  
"It really is fascinating, though, the whole process of becoming a justicar," Miranda continued, drawing Samara's attention back to her. "To give up so much, devote your whole life to nothing but the pursuit of justice."  
  
Samara nodded. "Shepard has found the concept fascinating as well; we have discussed it at length in the past. But I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have."  
  
"I appreciate that, but really I had just one. What's the Purgation?"  
  
The smile immediately disappeared from Samara's face at the word. "That... that is something only to be known by justicars. We do not discuss it with outsiders."  
  
Almost in response to Samara's change of expression, Miranda's smile grew even wider. "Well, I'm sorry, but I have to admit, it was a rhetorical question. Because, really, I already knew."  
  
"That's impossible. No one outside of the justicar order is allowed to speak of it."  
  
Miranda shrugged, as she brought up the datapad she had entered with. "Oh, you'd be surprised, the information the Illusive Man can get access to. His research into you and the rest of the team was quite thorough. Let me read you what my former associates wrote about it." Pushing a button on the datapad, Miranda watched as text scrolled up on the display. "'The Purgation is a ritual all justicar candidates must participate in before they are allowed into the order. They are asked to confess to all of their previous sins and crimes, and are "purged" of them by being subjected to biotic torture. Once all of a candidate's sins have been purged, they will be deemed worthy to join the order.'"  
  
Looking over the datapad into Samara's narrowed eyes, Miranda smirked. "Very interesting, indeed. So, Samara, what sins did you have to be purged of?"

Samara's voice lost its previous friendliness, and was cold and stern. "I will not speak of such matters, and I feel it would be best if you..."  
  
Miranda interrupted Samara's words with a laugh. "Sorry, sorry, I did it again. See, we already knew that, too." Seeing the surprise on Samara's face, Miranda chuckled as she tapped out a series of characters on the datapad. "Oh, guess you didn't know that the justicar order actually records vids of the Purgation. Not sure why, but..."  
  
"How could... even if that were true, that would be centuries old. How could Cerberus manage to..."  
  
Miranda turned the datapad towards Samara and pressed the play button. Samara went dead silent as she saw herself, hundreds of years ago, in the traditional garb of a justicar candidate. She knelt on the floor, panting and coated with sweat. It was several hours into her Purgation, and the pain she was being put through was obvious.  
  
"Must anything else be purged?" said the conductor of the Purgation ceremony.  
  
"I have lain with many women," said the younger Samara on the screen. "During my maidenhood, I took many into my bed."  
  
The conductor questioned her. "You merged with them?"  
  
Samara nodded. "Yes... and more."  
  
"Elaborate, please."  
  
"I engaged in physical contact with them. Stimulating their azures with my hands and with devices."  
  
"Is there more?" the conductor prodded.  
  
"Yes. Often times I would bind my lovers, and force them to engage in humiliating actions." Samara said the words without shame or any other emotion, reading them off like someone would read off their grocery list. "I enjoyed dominating them. Letting them know that I was the one in charge, and that they had no choice but to obey."  
  
The conductor nodded, showing no reaction to the sordid details of Samara's love life. "Are you ready to be purged of these sins?"  
  
"I am," Samara said. An asari visible off to the side of Samara extended a hand, and Samara winced as she was surrounded by a cloud of biotic power, the other asari reaving her.  
  
Once Samara had recovered sufficiently, the conductor continued. "Must anything else be purged?"  
  
"I stole..."  
  
Miranda stopped the playback, the relevant part of the video finished.  
  
Samara stared at her through narrowed, severe eyes. "What is the purpose of showing me this?" she said, the tone of her voice dangerous.  
  
"See, what I don't understand is... the Justicar Code doesn't forbid physical relationships," Miranda said as she laid the datapad down. "Strictly speaking, all those times you spent fucking those other women, you weren't really 'sinning,' at least as far as the justicars were concerned. So why bring it up?"  
  
Samara said nothing at first, staring daggers at Miranda. Finally, she said, "The Purgation is not just for our sins. It is to leave behind those aspects of us that do not belong in our new lives as justicars. I had no intention of pursuing such carnal relations in the future, so I asked that they be purged."  
  
"But just because they gave you a jolt doesn't mean those feelings are gone, right? There's a part of you, somewhere inside, that wishes she could do those things again."  
  
"If that were true, and I do not believe that is the case, then such feelings are not important," Samara frowned. "Miss Lawson, I think it's time for you..."  
  
Miranda held up a hand to stop Samara speaking. "Just one more thing. See, I want to tell you the real reason I came to see you. Like when you became a justicar, I'm also leaving my old life behind, so to speak. And I was hoping that you... you would conduct the Purgation on me."  
  
Even with all of her resolve, the fury on Samara's face was apparent. "To even consider such a thing is a blasphemy. You are not even supposed to **know** about the Purgation, and you would ask me to profane this sacred ritual by conducting it on..."  
  
"Well, that's the other thing," Miranda said as she reached for the cloth-wrapped package. "Strictly speaking, you wouldn't be conducting the real ceremony. Just... a version of it. Instead of using your biotics on me," Miranda said as she started unwrapping the item under the cloth, "I want you to use this."

Samara's eyes went wide with anger as she saw what Miranda had brought: a thick, intimidating-looking strap-on. Miranda had purchased it on Illium before the Normandy had left, the sleazy vendor promising that it was "the closest you could get to a krogan cock without flying to Tuchanka and receiving a breeding request."  
  
"If..." Samara said, starting to shake with anger, "If this is some sort of practical joke..."  
  
"No, I'm really being sincere here," Miranda said, as she waved the strap-on towards Samara's face. "Calm down, Samara. Take a deep, deep breath and consider what I'm asking you."  
  
Samara _did_ take a breath, although Miranda was sure it was to yell at her to leave immediately.  
  
But then the smell hit her nostrils, and Miranda started to see the effects almost instantly.  
  
They had picked it up on a previous mission: a strange xeno-pheromone that, when inhaled or ingested, interacted directly with the pleasure center of the affected individual's brain. To put in vulgar terms, it made the person incredibly horny.  
  
Miranda had paid a visit to Mordin's lab a few hours earlier and, after asking to see some of the xeno-pheromone and "accidentally" exposing Mordin to it, she ended up taking her second salarian cock of the last few weeks. And before paying this visit to Samara, she had applied the pheromone all along the length of the strap-on, the fumes stirring her already overactive libido as she worked.  
  
And now, Miranda watched in anticipation as the shout Samara was about to deliver died in her throat. Her nostrils flared as Miranda continued to wave the strap-on in her face, her eyelids starting to droop and her mouth hanging slightly open.  
  
"This... what is happening to me?" Samara muttered, raising a hand to her forehead.  
  
"You're feeling it, aren't you?" Miranda said, as she placed the tip of the strap-on directly under Samara's nose. "Those old urges. You want to take me just like you used to do in your maiden days, don't you?"  
  
Samara weakly slapped the strap-on out of her face, but her breath was already coming in shallow, rapid gasps. "No... no, I am not that person anymore."  
  
"Deny it all you want," Miranda said as she continued to wave the fumes coming off the strap-on into Samara's face. "Deep down inside, you know what you really want."  
  
"I... I want..."  
  
Dropping the strap-on in Samara's lap, Miranda stood and took several steps away, turning to allow Samara to get a good look at her. "If you're not sure, let me show you what I'm offering." Drawing the zipper of her jumpsuit down slowly, Miranda darted her tongue to lick her lips as she slowly parted the tight fabric, revealing more and more of her bare...  
  
"Gah!" Samara cried out, and Miranda was suddenly flying through the air, striking the wall face-first with a thump from the force of Samara's biotic powers. For a moment, Miranda thought Samara had shaken off the effects of the pheromone. But then she felt Samara's hands roughly grabbing at her clothes and yanking them off of her body, and she blissfully smiled.  
  
"You _are_ a sinner," Samara firmly intoned as she tossed Miranda's jumpsuit away and grabbed at her panties to tear them off with a single powerful tug. "You're a sinner, and it is my sacred duty as a justicar to purge you of your sins." The words Samara were saying had absolutely nothing to do with the Code or justicar law at all, and probably had more to do with the carnal sensations that were flooding the formerly chaste asari at the moment.  
  
"Yes," Miranda cooed, as the last of her clothing was torn from her body, and Samara flung her naked form to the floor. "Purge me, mighty Justicar. Punish me for my sins." She glanced down at the strap-on and then back up at Samara.  
  
But Samara shook her head. "Before we begin your Purgation, Miss Lawson, you must kneel before the Goddess Athame. Kneel, and express your desire to be purged."  
  
Before Miranda could ask what that entailed, and if Samara had some sort of altar stashed in this room somewhere, Samara made her intent clear by reaching for the first fastener on her outfit.

"Oh, you don't know how long I've been waiting for this," Miranda thought, remembering back to that morning in the shower where all of this had seemed to begin. Before long, Samara was naked before her. Turning her back to Miranda, she bent over and presented her naked sex to Miranda.  
  
"Kneel, sinner," Samara commanded, looking back at Miranda with eyes half-commanding, half-crazy with lust. "Kneel and worship in the proper fashion."  
  
Miranda crawled forward, eyes locked on Samara's glistening, dripping azure. Reaching up to caress the asari's ample backside, Miranda extended her tongue to catch a falling drop of Samara's hot juices, before slowly and lovingly licking up and down the folds of Samara's soaking pussy.  
  
"Yes," Samara moaned, desires she had long suppressed being drawn out of her by the influence of the pheromone. "Worship me, filthy sinner. Worship me with your lips and your tongue."  
  
Miranda seemed to recall she was supposed to be worshiping the Goddess, but the semantics of their little game didn't really matter when Miranda was working at sucking up every last drop of Samara's arousal. After that night on Illium, she was becoming well-acquainted with the look, feel, and taste of the asari azure, and from the heated moans Samara was letting out, servicing the Sisterhood had taught Miranda well.  
  
"Oh... oh, Goddess forgive me..." Samara exclaimed, before letting out a series of panting, desperate moans. Miranda felt Samara's juices dripping down her face as the asari experienced her first climax in centuries. Closing her eyes, Miranda licked and sucked on the wonderful tasting pussy in front of her, until without warning it was taken away.  
  
Opening her eyes, Miranda watched in awe as Samara's eyes flared a shining blue. The strap-on lying on the floor began hovering in the air toward Samara, and as if being manipulated by an invisible hand, the straps began wrapping and fastening themselves around Samara's hips. Within seconds the process was finished, and a thick krogan cock jutted out from Samara's crotch.  
  
"On your hands and knees," Samara ordered. "It is time for the Purgation."  
  
Miranda obeyed, Samara kneeling down behind her and placing the head of the massive strap-on against Miranda's labia. "What must be purged?" Samara asked her, placing her hands at the curve of Miranda's hips and readying herself for the punishment.  
  
"I... was in a pro-human organization that ran illegal and unethical experiments," Miranda confessed. "We ran tests on rachni, the Thorian, and thresher maws, and many people died or were traumatized as a result of our actions."  
  
"Are you ready to be purged of these sins?" Samara asked the question, apparently no longer worried about the heresy of using the sacred texts of her order as part of a sex game.  
  
Miranda nodded. "I am."  
  
Samara thrust, and the giant fake krogan cock drove its way into Miranda's pussy. Miranda threw back her head and howled, while Samara withdrew and thrust several more times before placing the tip of the strap-on back at the opening of Miranda's snatch.  
  
"Must anything else be purged?" Samara questioned.  
  
Miranda gasped for air, still recovering from the sensation of the giant cock penetrating her. "I brought Commander Diana Shepard back to life with the intention of using her as a tool to fight the Reapers. I would have installed a control chip in her brain and used her like a puppet if the Illusive Man hadn't ordered me not to."  
  
"Are you ready to be purged of these sins?"  
  
Miranda bit her lip and braced herself. "Yes," she said. Even being prepared for it, she still cried out as the giant phallus violated her once again. Miranda bit the ball of her thumb to stop her cries as Samara mercilessly drove the strap-on into her again and again.  
  
After about fifteen thrusts, Samara returned to her original position, cock primed in position for the next punishment. "Must anything else be purged?"  
  
"I... once found the idea of being with an alien, of letting an alien touch me intimately, to be disgusting. I refused to even consider the notion of having sex with an alien."  
  
"Are you ready to be purged of these sins?"

Miranda nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, yes..." Samara entered Miranda again, her hips slapping against Miranda's ass as she fucked Miranda in earnest. Miranda moaned and writhed in an equal mix of pain and pleasure, bringing one hand up underneath her to rub frantically at her clit.  
  
"Must anything else be purged?" Samara said, but this time there was no pause in her firm thrusting into Miranda.  
  
"Fuck," Miranda moaned. "I... I was a frigid bitch who... who never had any fucking fun. I never enjoyed myself, never went out and had a good time, and never would have considered letting every alien who wanted to fuck me... ooh, letting them use me like a dirty fucking whore. I wasn't a nasty alien-loving slut, wasn't a filthy human hole for aliens to dump their cum into. I wa... I..."  
  
"Are you ready to be purged of these sins?"  
  
Miranda threw back her head and yelled. "Yes! Yes, I'm leaving that all behind! That was my old life, and now I'm... fuck yeeeeeeeessssssss!" Miranda felt her climax hit, so intense that she nearly passed out. Samara thrust into her one last time, burying the strap-on quad-deep into Miranda's snatch, before pulling out and moving away, watching while Miranda squealed and twitched.  
  
When Miranda had finally recovered and gotten up off the ground, Samara had removed the strap-on from her hips and was staring out of the observation bay window with vacant eyes.  
  
"This was wrong," Samara said. "I cannot believe I could be so weak."  
  
Miranda walked up next to her and laid a hand on her bare ass. "Does that mean we're not doing this again tomorrow night?"  
  
Staring down at her feet, Samara's face was filled with shame. "No, it doesn't."  
  
"Great," Miranda said, quickly dressing and grabbing her things, concealing the strap-on in the cloth covering again. "In the meantime, I plan to rack up a lot more sins to be purged for the next time, so be ready."  
  
Samara said nothing, still staring at the floor. Shrugging, Miranda left the shaken asari alone. No time to dwell on such things; she had a lot more to get done before they reached Omega. A certain charming turian in the forward battery, that scaly hunk of man in life support, and...  
  
Back in her office, Miranda unwrapped the strap-on again. "Close as you can get to a real krogan without fucking one yourself, huh?" she mused to herself. "Looks like I might have to put that claim to the test."


	8. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (Omega)

Her name was Victoriana, and she was amazing.  
  
Markan Lannitus stared up from his barstool as the nimble asari strutted around the platform, every movement a thing of beauty. His mandibles twitched as he imagined her eyes met his for a brief second, but most likely it was in his imagination.  
  
Every night now for the past few weeks, after closing up his supply shop, he'd stop by the lower levels of Afterlife. If anybody would have asked, he was just getting a drink to unwind, but the truth was that he was here to see her.  
  
Not that anybody would have asked. Because the last person who gave a damn about the pathetic turian drowning his sorrows in this sleazy place had left the station a month ago.  
  
"I'm sick of watching you just sleepwalk through life," she had said to him, while throwing her things into a suitcase. "Day after day, you just go to your shop, and then come home. The same thing every day, no changes, no spontaneity. There's a whole galaxy out there, Mark, and I'm not going to spend any more of my time watching you sit back and let it pass you by."  
  
It was only after she had walked out of the door and out of his life that he had realized how badly he'd screwed up. She had wanted him to fight for her. To stop her, to show some spine for once in his life. But just like with the rest of his life, he'd just let her go.  
  
"She's right," he had resolved himself. "Starting today, I'm going to seize life by the fringe. No more meek and passive Markan, no way. Today, my life turns around!"  
  
And that's what he'd said every day for the past two weeks, before heading to his shop, making a few sales, and heading to Afterlife to drink and gawk at the amazing Victoriana.  
  
It wasn't even that she was the most attractive dancer Aria had. Sure, she was gorgeous, but somewhat less buxom than the rest of the asari that Afterlife showcased. But it was just the way she moved when she was up there. So confident, so self-assured, so...  
  
"So unlike you," Markan thought, as he took another swig of his drink. He let out a low sigh, too soft to be heard over the throbbing music in the room, as Victoriana made her way to the back of the stage, her shift over.  
  
Markan was reaching for his credit chit to settle his tab, when he heard a small commotion off to his left. He glanced over to see a human woman scaling the sides of the stage and hoisting herself up to the dancers' platform.  
  
Most patrons of Afterlife were so jaded by the presence of the asari dancers that they barely even paid attention to what was going on above their heads. But the unusual nature of the human's entrance caught the eye of most everybody in the room, and then held it when they actually got a look at her.  
  
"Whoa," Markan exclaimed as he stared up at the woman. When he had first started dating Leslie, he had been amazed that a human woman so lovely would want to spend her time with a turian. Every time he saw her, he thought to himself that she had to be the most beautiful human that ever lived.  
  
This one blew her completely out of the water. Flowing dark hair, beautiful smile, and a body that any human woman would kill to have.  
  
A body that Markan was getting a good look at, considering the human was barely wearing any clothing as she lewdly gyrated for the crowd of now-cheering patrons. Just a black leather zip-up top, a matching miniskirt covering thong panties, and a pair of knee-length boots were all that she wore, and if the way she was moving her body was any indication, those clothes wouldn't be in place for long.  
  
Markan glanced over at some of Aria's security, who looked perturbed but weren't taking any action as of yet. A loud catcall from the crowd drew his attention back to the stage, where the human was slowly drawing down the zipper of her top, taking her time with every last inch until the suspense was almost too much to handle.  
  
Finally, her breasts sprang free, and the crowd cheered as she rubbed and stroked them, making her way around the stage to make sure everyone got a good look. No sooner was her top discarded than she reached down to unfasten her skirt.

"Shit," Markan thought to himself. Aria's dancers normally didn't go this far out on the floor; it usually took serious credits to get one of them to invite you back to the ryncol room to put on a show like this. (Markan sometimes thought about saving up the money to get some private time with Victoriana, but the cost would have forced him to quadruple his sales for a month in order to keep eating).  
  
The skirt was now off, and the human woman let it dangle on the end of her boot for a second before kicking it out to the crowd. Now only wearing a pair of thong panties that left almost nothing to the imagination, she turned her back and ran her hands through her hair while shaking her well-toned ass back and forth.  
  
"An Eclipse tattoo?" Markan thought to himself. "Funny, she doesn't look like a merc."  
  
Hooking her thumb into the side of her panties, the woman shouted as loud as she could to be heard over the music. "You all want to see everything?"  
  
" **YEAH!** " came the resounding response of the audience.  
  
Smirking, the human turned and walked to the side of the stage, the crowd yelling out their frustration as she made her way down to the floor.  
  
Moving to stand near the door to the nearby private room, she cocked a hip and shouted again at the crowd. "Well, if you want to see it, I'll be down in this room for the rest of the night. And I'm not leaving until every last alien in this bar has spilled their cum all over me!"  
  
While her voice didn't carry across the entire bar, it reached enough of the patrons that a rush immediately started towards the back room. Markan had to lean forward to keep from being knocked off his barstool, as everyone in the bar shoved their way past him toward the door.  
  
Through the crowd, Markan saw one of the patrons, a human male in a filthy jacket, reach out to lay a hand on the eager woman. The reaction was almost immediate, as the woman bared her teeth and grabbed the man's wrist to yank his arm away. "Fuck off, human!" she spat at him, her voice filled with disdain for her own race. The rest of the crowd quickly shoved the man away as the turians, batarians, krogans, and even a few of the asari tried to be the first to reach the door.  
  
Soon, Markan was alone at the bar except for several dismayed looking humans and disinterested salarians. Sure, part of him considered getting in line and taking his turn at the human, but A) it wouldn't be appropriate to take advantage of a woman in an obviously inebriated state and B) the line was too long by this point, and the woman would have been used by at least twenty other men before he got his turn.  
  
"Oh, fuck, yes," he could hear the woman moan, as the first of the aliens had obviously reached her. "Fuck my filthy human body, fucking drown me in your hot cum!"  
  
"Markan, this is what you've been waiting for," said a quiet little voice in his head. "A chance to be confident for once. The woman's obviously drunk or on some sort of drugs, and right now she's doing things she's probably going to regret. Get your ass in there and pull her out! She'll be so grateful."  
  
He was slow to react to this call to action, though. "Let me finish my drink," he protested to this voice.  
  
"No! Get in there now! If you wait too long, half the bar will have had their way with her, and she won't be nearly as grateful."  
  
Just at that moment, he heard the loud growl of a krogan from the private room, no doubt spraying his seed all across the lustful human woman. Clenching his fist, he finally resolved himself. He pushed away from the bar and moved toward the large crowd of people outside the door to the room.  
  
"Umm... excuse me..." he muttered to a krogan at the end of the line. When he received no response, he raised his voice. "Excuse me, I need to get through."  
  
"Wait your turn, turian," the krogan muttered without turning around.  
  
Markan rubbed his forehead, trying to figure out a way to get through the crowd. From his spot at the back of the line, he could hear the human urging her current partners to "fuck me harder! I'm here to be your human fuck toy! That's all I'm good for!"  
  
Clearing his throat, Markan tried his best to harden his voice. "Hey, I work for Aria. Clear the way, I need to stop this right now."

The krogan laughed. "No, you don't. _They_ do," the krogan pointed several spots ahead in the line to the two guards who'd been watching the human's striptease before, eagerly waiting for their turns.  
  
With no real other option, Markan decided to wait until the line had thinned out a bit before making his heroic rescue. Hopefully the woman was so out of it that she wouldn't remember the depravity she had engaged in before he came to her aid.  
  
The line slowly moved forward. Perversely, Markan remembered the theme park his parents had taken him to when he was eight, although the rides that had been at the end of those lines had involved a bit less bodily fluids. As the crowd ahead of him began to thin, Markan was able to get glimpses of what was happening through the open doors. At the moment, the human woman was riding on top of a batarian, with a turian cock in each hand and her tongue lavishing a bulging krogan quad. Her body had already been decorated with the cum of several species, and she squealed in delight as the two turians shot off across her tits within seconds of each other. No sooner had they finished than they were replaced by two new cocks.  
  
"So good," the human pulled away from lapping at krogan scrotum to moan. "More, give me more alien cocks."  
  
The crowd was eager to oblige her. After several more partners had spent themselves inside her or across her body, then moved aside for the next person in line, Markan was finally getting close to the front. Currently, the human was lapping between an asari's legs while a batarian rammed into her from behind. Markan saw a break in the crowd, and was finally close enough to push through the few people in front of him and reach her.  
  
"Miss, you need to get out of here," he exclaimed to the woman, bending down to grab onto her wrist.  
  
As the asari cried out and leaked her juices across the woman's face, the cum-soaked human looked up at him and grinned. "Oooh, you're a cute one! Bring that thick turian cock of yours over here and I'll make you feel so good."  
  
"Miss, I'm not going to..." Wait. Him, cute? He shook his head; like he'd said before, she wasn't in her right mind. Taking the woman by the arm, he tried to pull her away from the batarian currently buried deep inside her. "Let me get you somewhere where you can..."  
  
A strong hand clapped over his shoulder, "Hey, asshole! Don't fuck this up!" said an angry-looking turian. The few still remaining in the line behind Markan loudly agreed, and he felt himself being shoved back through the line out of the room.  
  
Struggling against the throng of horny people, Markan looked back just in time to see that several vorcha had managed to sneak into Afterlife from the back alley. As the human cooed in approval, they pulled out their filthy cocks and got into position, ready to fill every one of the human's now well-used openings.  
  
Sighing, Markan walked away from the crowd. He spotted one of Aria's security team, fresh from his turn at the human, adjusting his fly before pressing a finger to his ear. No doubt he was contacting Aria about the situation going on down there.  
  
Well, at least they would be able to break this up, Markan thought glumly to himself. Or at the very least, make a better attempt than he managed.  
  
Being a nice guy on Omega sucked.


	9. Down in the Muck with the Beasts (The Exquisite Chains)

In the dream, she was back on Earth. But an Earth vastly different from the one she remembered from her last visit.  
  
She felt metal bite into her neck, as the slave master yanked on the chain attached to her collar. The pace was brutal, and walking on the streets in her bare feet was murder, but she fought to keep up with the turian leading her by her leash.  
  
Looking around, the streets of Earth were filled with aliens. In the dream, she knew that the rest of the galaxy had descended upon her race's planet, and taken it for their own. And somehow, they had agreed to share it amongst themselves.  
  
There was no animosity, no tension between them. Turians chatted pleasantly with krogans, who would turn to greet and wave at salarians. Asari and batarians exchanging hugs and friendly conversation. All the alien races, together in harmony.  
  
And trailing behind most of them, on a leash just like hers, were their human slaves.

They were all naked, just like her. There was no need to waste clothing on lesser beings like them. They all followed obediently behind their masters, some of them carrying items from shopping trips, others just there for the pleasure of their alien superiors.  
  
As Miranda was dragged through the streets, she would occasionally spot one of the aliens reaching into their pants and pulling out their cocks. Knowing what was expected of them, their slaves would immediately drop to their knees and begin servicing their masters. Miranda understood that, in this world, this was a regular occurrence. A way to remind the slaves of who ruled over them. A glance to her left saw a turian and batarian exchanging a few casual words about the weather, while both of their slaves were bobbing their heads up and down on their exposed cocks.  
  
Watching this for a few seconds, she saw the turian say something to the batarian, followed by the batarian barking an order down at his slave. As the two humans traded places and started lapping at the other alien's cock, Miranda understood that it was a common courtesy to allow others to sample your slaves in this world.  
  
And while she continued her forced march through the streets of this new Earth, watching as human slaves sucked and fucked for their master's pleasure, she realized where she was going. She had been sold to her new owner, and the slave master was leading her to what would be her home from now on.  
  
What would he be like, she thought to herself? Perhaps a slim, lusty salarian, or a hulking, massive krogan? Or perhaps even a sensual asari? Whoever it was, she knew that it was her duty to service her master to the best of her abilities, lest she be disposed of.  
  
As the walk continued, she began to recognize faces in the crowd. Kasumi, her legs wrapped around the hips of her turian master while he fucked her, moaning as one of the turian's friends entered her from behind. Jacob, down on his hands and knees using his tongue on an asari, while another asari behind him prepared a large dildo to insert into his backside. Jack, once so cocky and independent, now lovingly blowing her batarian master with wide, adoring eyes.  
  
And Shepard, down on her knees on the sidewalk, waiting with eager anticipation as Wrex, Wreav, and Grunt all jerked at their pricks, competing to be the first to cover the once proud Commander Shepard with their krogan cum.  
  
It was a world where humans were little more than toys for the aliens of the galaxy. The idea of them becoming a council race, of being anything other than warm bodies to fuck, was long forgotten, and Miranda's entire race had been reduced to helpless, obedient servants.  
  
Miranda let out a blissful sigh. It was heaven.  
  
"Get moving, slave," the turian slave master ordered, giving a hard yank to her leash for emphasis. As she turned to face forward and got a good look, she realized that it was Garrus who was dragging her toward her new master. He looked back at her without a trace of compassion or even recognition. She wasn't Miranda to him anymore; she was just another human slave to be transported.  
  
In her dream, she began to sense that they were nearing their destination. Before them loomed a massive mansion, larger even than her father's home. Whoever lived in a home like this, Miranda thought to herself, must be a very important person. Miranda felt her chest puff up with pride. That someone so high in the alien hierarchy on Earth would choose her to be their slave was a great honor.  
  
Leading her up the front stairs, Garrus rang the doorbell. When the door opened, Miranda was surprised to see Kelly there, naked as all other human slaves and meekly bowing her head to her alien superior.  
  
"Slave delivery for your mistress," Garrus said, reaching behind Miranda's back and unhooking her leash before shoving her forward.  
  
"Thank you, sir," Kelly said. "My mistress has asked me to inform you that the credits should be delivered to your account."  
  
Bringing up his omnitool to verify, Garrus nodded and turned to leave without another word.  
  
"Follow me," Kelly said to Miranda. "Our mistress has been waiting for your arrival."

Mistress, she thought to herself. Miranda steeled herself for the tasks to come: in her experience (or the experience that the dream told her she had had), women could be even more cruel and demanding than male masters. She would have to work especially hard to keep her new mistress's favor. Especially, she thought as she shot a glance over at Kelly, since it seemed she would be competing for that favor.  
  
Making their way down several hallways, they passed several more slaves, each of them staring at Miranda with awe-filled expressions. She recognized all of them: Donnelly and Daniels, Gardner, Zaeed and Dr. Chakwas. Even Joker was there, sitting to perform menial tasks on a video display for the mistress.  
  
It seemed like almost the entire human crew of the Normandy were enslaved to Miranda's new mistress. Miranda felt something then, a strange tickle at the back of her mind. As if her subconscious was trying to tell her something.  
  
But any of those thoughts melted away as Kelly opened a large set of double doors. "Please, go inside," Kelly said as she waved Miranda into the doors. "Pledge your loyalty to your mistress, and then your new life can begin."  
  
Slowly, cautiously, Miranda walked into the darkened room. As she stepped forward, the world seemed to shift around her. The carpeted floors turned to metal gratings; the tapestries on the walls unraveled to reveal steel pipes and electrical conduits.  
  
Soon, the room was fully lit, and Miranda realized she was in the engine room of the Normandy.  
  
"Hello, Miranda," said a voice from behind her, and Miranda turned and gasped. "Are you ready to become my slave?"  
  
It was all so clear now. Bowing to her knee, Miranda lowered her head to the ground in supplication.  
  
"Yes, Mistress Tali," she said.  
  
* * *  
  
"Yes, Mistress Tali," she muttered, before her eyes snapped open and she found herself in her bed on the Normandy.  
  
Slowly, the last remnants of the dream still disorienting her, she remembered what had happened. After her "celebration" in Afterlife, security had pulled away the last of the aliens waiting to fuck her and told her in no uncertain terms to return to the Normandy immediately. Once there, she had brazenly walked through the CIC, naked and dripping with alien cum, and taken a much-needed shower.  
  
From there, she had gone straight to bed, only to experience that vivid dream.  
  
Her mind was racing. The dream had been so real. Somehow, she didn't know how, but she knew that it contained the answers to her current situation.  
  
"Tali," Miranda was muttering to herself as she quickly got dressed. "I need to talk to Tali."  
  
It was funny, she thought to herself. Once she had discovered the power of the xeno-pheromone, she had used it to engage in several rounds of rough sex with the alien crew of the Normandy. And yet, it had never once occurred to her to use it on Tali.  
  
Even stranger, she found herself realizing that it had been weeks since she'd even _thought_ about Tali. With her always being down in the engine room, Miranda supposed that wasn't completely unusual. Still, with everything that had gone on with Tali and Shepard on the Migrant Fleet, she would have thought she would have checked in on the distraught alien at least once.  
  
But she was going to handle that now. She was going to talk to Tali... _needed_ to talk to Tali.  
  
Stepping out of her office, she started to head to the lift, when she noticed the strange silence that had fallen across the mess hall.  
  
When she stopped and turned to look, she saw everyone in the mess hall staring back at her.  
  
"Is something wrong?" she asked them, but they all just kept staring back at her. The look in their eyes reminded her of the looks these same people were giving her in her dream.  
  
One of them finally spoke. "It is tonight," she said, her voice breathless and delighted.  
  
"The transgressors will face their judgment," her dining companion replied, a serene smile on his face. "They will join us, or they will be punished."  
  
And then all of them spoke as one. "They will join us," they said in unison. "Or they will be punished."  
  
Miranda started to say something, ask them what they were talking about. But again, her subconscious told her the answer.

"Tali," she said out loud. "I'm... going to see Tali."  
  
As one, they all nodded, as if they already knew.  
  
Wanting to get away from the disturbing sight as soon as possible, and get her answers just as quickly, Miranda made her way down to Deck 4 in a hurry.  
  
"Tali!" she yelled as she charged into the engine room. "Tali, where are you?" She didn't know why she felt so frantic all of a sudden. Just that she knew she had to talk to Tali right now.  
  
A door slid open behind her, and the subject of her search entered. "Hello, Miranda," Tali said, just as she had in the dream. But the next words were different. "Tell me something. How does it feel?"  
  
"How does... what feel?" Miranda said, raising a hand to her forehead. As soon as she had seen Tali enter, she'd felt her head start to ache. It felt as if her brain was moving inside her skull, shifting and twisting into a different shape.  
  
"How does it feel to be used?" Tali said, casually strolling around Miranda as she clutched at her head. "To be treated like nothing more than a slave, or a pet. To spend every second of your life working for the pleasure of other species, and getting nothing in return but being used and discarded? Was it fun? Did you enjoy it?" She watched Miranda continue to groan in pain and laughed. "Now that... you've gotten some perspective on it, how does it feel?"  
  
The pain subsided, but Miranda realized that it was almost preferable to what it left in its wake. The lust for aliens, the fervent desire to have them fuck her, it was gone. She was who she was a few months ago, before...  
  
"What did you do to me?" Miranda said through gritted teeth. She wanted to reach forward and grab Tali, shake her and demand answers, but suddenly found she was unable to move.  
  
Tali laughed again, and there was something frightening in that laugh: the slightest hint of madness. "Why, nothing more than what you and Shepard did to me, Miranda. I mean, you didn't fuck me in the _literal_ sense, of course. But you, Shepard, all of you humans destroyed my father's legacy, destroyed my life, and expected me to bend over and squeal, 'Oh, yes, fuck me harder!' Well, now that you've gotten that experience, tell me: did you enjoy it as much as I did?"  
  
"Tali, Shepard didn't mean to..."  
  
"Don't you talk about what Shepard _meant_ to do!" Tali yelled into Miranda's face. "I don't give a damn what she _meant_ to do! What she _did_ was tear my heart out and stomp it into the ground! And then expected me to tell her she was right to do it! Expected me to still be her comrade, her _friend_ , after doing something like that!"  
  
Miranda was finally beginning to realize that she was alone in a room with an insane person. And no matter how much she tried, she couldn't make herself move.  
  
"So, Miranda," Tali said, stepping around behind her and rustling through something. A syrupy, artificial sweetness had entered her voice, almost seeming like a mockery of the nice, friendly quarian they had recruited on Haestrom. "This is the part where you have a decision to make. Unlike Shepard, I'm actually willing to give you the freedom to choose."  
  
Standing in front of Miranda, Tali waved a small metal box in her face. When Miranda finally recognized it, everything clicked into place. "The Shadow Broker's mind control device! But Shepard said she..."  
  
"Yes, she says a lot of things that aren't true," Tali said bitterly. "Like how she'll stand by her crew, and how you should trust her. But forget about Shepard. That's for later. Right now, we're talking about you."  
  
Holding up the device, Tali turned it in her hand. "It truly is amazing, how much power this device grants you over a human. You can make them feel anything, think anything... even become someone they're not."  
  
Tucking the device away, Tali held up her other hand. In it was a datapad displaying Miranda's face, next to a box of text.

"This, Miranda, is the life and times of Misty Raya. A truly sad story, this one: she was kidnapped from a colony at an early age by batarian slavers. Once she had matured, she was immediately forced into sexual slavery by her captors. An Alliance raid eventually freed her from her captors but, sad to say, she didn't know anything else at that point except how to pleasure aliens. So she started turning tricks, her low self-esteem causing her to charge pocket change to any alien who wanted to use her."  
  
Tali pressed on the screen, and the text scrolled down. "Eventually, Misty ended up on Cartagena Station, a vile den of pirates and mercenaries. But even criminals need companionship, and soon Misty is plying her trade for any aliens who are willing to pay her cheap whore prices."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Miranda said, struggling desperately to move.  
  
"I'm talking about your first option," Tali said as she lowered the datapad. "If you decide the second one is not to your tastes, that is. See, if you choose the first option, then I will use the device on you one last time. And here is what I will command: you will immediately to go to Shepard and hand in your resignation. After that, you will leave the Normandy at the next port and book passage to Cartagena Station by any means necessary. Once there... you will become our dear Miss Raya."  
  
Tali paced around Miranda, running her fingers across Miranda's body. "At first, you'll be playing a part. Using the identity I've set up for you as Misty, you'll pretend to be her. But after a few days, you'll start to remember things. Like when you were abducted by those batarians, and how they took you again and again. How you had no choice but to keep having sex with aliens in order to earn enough credits to survive."  
  
"Soon," Tali said, standing behind Miranda, her masked face close to Miranda's ear, "your memories of Miranda Lawson will cease to exist. You'll be Misty Raya, cheap alien whore, for the rest of your life."  
  
"No," Miranda said desperately, trying to shake her head but unable to move her neck the slightest centimeter. "Shepard wouldn't let me resign. She needs me too much."  
  
There was that crazy laugh again. "Miranda, trust me: what Shepard would or wouldn't normally do, that isn't going to matter much from this day forward. I can guarantee you that, if you choose this first option, everything will happen exactly as I have planned it. Miranda Lawson will die, she will die and leave behind no body, no trace of her existence. And in her place with be nothing but a filthy... human... whore."  
  
No, Miranda cried out in her mind. The idea of ceasing to exist like that, leaving behind her sister and everything she ever cared about... whatever the other option was, it had to be better than that.  
  
As if hearing Miranda's thoughts, Tali resumed talking. "But then... there's the other option. I think this one is a lot better, but then, I'll leave that up to you."  
  
Reaching into a pouch around her waist, Tali retrieved a large hypodermic injector. Placing it against her neck, she pushed the trigger, and the needle shot out and pierced through her suit into her skin.  
  
"Aah," Tali let out a small wince, before pulling away the needle. "There. I've been planning for this day, you know. Taking a regular schedule of antibiotics and immune boosters. With all that medicine in my system right now, I should be able to stay out of my suit for at least five hours, with only a few minor infections."  
  
And with that, Tali reached down to her waist again, this time to trigger several seals along the seam. After a few seconds, the bottom half of Tali's suit fell to the floor, leaving her completely naked from the waist down. Her skin was pale, and gleaming with a thin sheen of sweat.  
  
"You see, the first option, you would be the willing slave of any alien who paid your price," Tali said, confidently stepping around the engine room despite being half-naked. "But in the second option... you would only be the slave of one alien."  
  
"Of you," Miranda said, finally understanding the strange behavior of all the crew over the last few weeks. God, it had been right in front of her all this time, and she'd realized it entirely too late.

Even behind her mask, Miranda could almost hear the smile that came to Tali's face as she answered. "Yes, of me. You will serve me without question, do anything I ask of you. Fuck anyone I ask you to. Your greatest concern, your most desperate desire in everything you do would be to do whatever it takes to please me. And in return, I will watch over you and protect you from harm."  
  
Miranda scowled. "So, I'm a slave one way or the other. Why not just make it quick and kill me right here, if you blame me for everything that's happened?"  
  
"Kill you? Why would I do that?" Tali asked innocently. "When I can just remake you into what I want you to be. Make you do anything I want you to do."  
  
"Then why even offer me the goddamn choice?" Miranda cried out, her anger hiding the very real fear that there was no escape from this.  
  
Tali reached up to stroke a hand across Miranda's cheek. "Because, sweet Miranda, I don't just want to make you my slave. I want you, and the rest of them, to _choose_ to be my slave. To give yourself to me of your own free will."  
  
"Fuck you," Miranda snapped. "You offer slavery, or a fate worse than slavery, and then pretend it's a real choice."  
  
"What was it you said a few months ago?" Tali said as she ran a hand down Miranda's side. "'She's got nowhere else to go. Even with her own name cleared, the Migrant Fleet will still look on her as the daughter of a traitor. So unless she wants to strike out on her own, a quarian with no ship and no credits to her name, she's pretty much stuck here.' Slavery to you and Shepard, or a fate worse than slavery. Perhaps it sounds a little familiar."  
  
Stepping away from the helpless Miranda, Tali cocked a naked hip and crossed her arms. "I think I've made your options clear." Reaching to her arm, she activated her omni-tool and pressed several buttons. "You have thirty seconds. If you haven't made a choice by then, I'll assume you've decided to refuse my generous second option, and want to live your life as Misty Raya from now on."  
  
"Tali, please," Miranda said, unable to hide the desperation in her voice. "I'm sorry for what happened. Shepard's sorry too, I know she doesn't show it, but..."  
  
"Twenty-five seconds."  
  
Miranda felt a tear roll down her cheek. "Tali, you've gone crazy. This isn't you, I know it isn't. Please don't do this."  
  
"It's already done, Miranda. Eighteen seconds."  
  
She thought about Oriana, about Jacob. About all her dreams of having a child, being a better parent than her father ever was. And in a matter of seconds, all of those dreams would die.  
  
"Tali... I..."  
  
"Ten... nine... eight... seven..."  
  
"I'll be your slave!" Miranda finally cried out. "Goddamn you, Tali, I'll be your slave!"  
  
Tali shut down the omni-tool. "I thought you might say that. You've made the right choice, Miranda. Now, then... how about we make it official?"  
  
Turning her back to Miranda, Tali bent slightly over, presenting her wide hips and gleaming backside to Miranda. "Right now, I think I'd very much like your tongue in my ass, Miranda," Tali said, placing a gloved hand on each of her asscheeks and spreading them wide.  
  
"But I can't m..." Miranda started to say, then realized with a start that she _could_ move.  
  
Something was bothering her. Once she had told Tali she'd be her slave, she had expected her mind to shift immediately. To start worshiping at Tali's feet. But she didn't feel any different.  
  
"Maybe it didn't work," Miranda thought to herself, as she got to her knees and began lovingly caressing Tali's ass. "Maybe if I fake it for long enough, Tali will be convinced. And then I can tell Shepard, and this madness will be over."  
  
Gently parting Tali's asscheeks, Miranda tentatively extended her tongue to probe at the quarian's puckered anus. She wasn't sure what to expect, considering how quarians dealt with excretory matters. But apparently the suit's hygienic functions kept them nice and clean back there, as the only thing Miranda tasted was Tali's warm, twitching flesh.  
  
"Not too painful," Miranda thought to herself, as she hungrily lapped at Tali's anus. "It shouldn't be too hard to fake this for a little while. Long enough to be convincing at least. Just need to make the mistress cum, and then..."

The mistress? Right, yes, she needed to make sure Tali was fooled. It would be best to start thinking about her as the mistress from now on. "I worship you, my mistress," she practiced in her head. "I live to serve your will, my mistress." Yeah, it sounded pretty convincing.  
  
"I know you do," her mistress said, and it was only then that Miranda realized she'd been speaking out loud. Foolish, she thought to herself. Wasting her tongue on words, when the mistress had ordered her to use it for other tasks. Got to keep servicing the mistress properly. Make her cum, so that she'd be happy. That way she could... wait, what was supposed to happen after that? Something to do with Shepard and... it seemed less and less important as she continued to orally pleasure her mistress.  
  
Removing one hand from her mistress's ass, Miranda placed her thumb against her mistress's clit and began firmly rubbing. For a second, she panicked: her mistress hadn't specifically told her to do this. Was she disobeying? The thought of displeasing the mistress terrified her, but hearing the loud moans she was making, Miranda felt a wave of relief. The mistress was pleased. She smiled as she continued to work her tongue around and inside her mistress's asshole, her other hand reaching down to unzip her jumpsuit and slide inside her panties.  
  
"Oh, yes," her mistress moaned, breathing heavily behind her mask. "So good, so...ohhhhh!"  
  
Miranda squealed in delight, as her mistress's juices began squirting out all over her hand. Later, once she was certain her mistress was satisfied with her efforts, she knew that she would hungrily lick up every last drop of the sweet fluids.  
  
"You can stop now," her mistress instructed, and Miranda immediately stopped licking. Her mistress turned around to look down at her, and Miranda looked up from the floor with an eager expression.  
  
She was ready to be commanded. She was ready to serve her mistress. Fuck a human, fuck an alien, fuck a thousand aliens. It didn't matter; if the mistress commanded, she would obey.  
  
"I have instructions for you, slave," the mistress said, and the word "slave" sent a pleasurable chill up Miranda's spine. "Are you ready to do my bidding?"  
  
"Yes, mistress," Miranda replied. "I am yours to command."  
  
"Well, then," the mistress said, her glowing eyes seeming to gleam just a little brighter. "I think it's time for you to pay a visit to a mutual friend of ours."


	10. Zero Compliance (Before the Citadel)

"Ah, fuck" Jack pressed a palm to her forehead as she sat up from her dingy cot. Must have been one hell of a night of partying, with how shitty she was feeling this morning. The Citadel may seem like a stodgy place, but the bars there were...  
  
Jack shook her head. No, that wasn't right. They were still a day away from the Citadel. Damn, why'd she feel so disoriented this morning? She'd gone to sleep at an early hour, her dreams filled with the shrieks of the cheerleader as Jack slowly lowered her into boiling acid (ah, she loved a happy dream.) And had there been something else that night? Something...  
  
 _Do you understand my instructions?_  
  
"Yes," she said, the word coming out of her mouth before she even knew she was saying it.  
  
It made her shudder a little. Reminded her of Teltin. You didn't hesitate when somebody asked you a question. When somebody asked you to fight, to kill. You didn't pause to think; you just did it.  
  
But who had asked the question? She'd heard the voice as if whoever had spoken was right there in the room with her. But unless somebody was fucking with her, there didn't seem to be anyone around.  
  
"Not enough damn sleep, fucks with your head," Jack said as she stretched her arms. Wouldn't be the first time Teltin had come back to her in her dreams. Holding her inked arms up above her head, she paused, and then leaned her head over to experimentally sniff.  
  
"Whoo," Jack let out a little cough. Much as she loved how the cheerleader would wrinkle her nose whenever Jack let herself get ripe, it was definitely shower time.  
  
Climbing up the stairs, she saw one of the Cerberus techs - the guy... Ken, she finally remembered - heading toward the engine room. "Gooooood morning," he cheerfully greeted her. Weird, the grease monkeys usually shied away from her, and definitely wouldn't have the nerve to actually talk to her.  
  
"Fuuuuuuuuck off!" Jack happily returned the salutation. Giving the chipper engineer a scowl, she turned away from him toward the hallway.  
  
"Aw, you can do better than that, love," Ken said to her. "Come on, give us a big smile this fine morning!"  
  
"Y..." Jack started to speak as she turned back around.  
  
Ken laughed as he saw her face. "There you go! You look so much prettier when you smile like that!"  
  
What the fuck was he going on about? She wasn't... Then she felt the unfamiliar crease to her face and realized that yes, she was smiling. Why the hell was she doing that?  
  
"I was just... remembering what your engineer buddy looked like stewing in her little Collector pod," Jack quickly covered, even as she forced her lips to return back to their natural, unpleasant state. "Few more minutes and we'd have been forced to scrape her up and use her as engine grease!"  
  
Jack expected him to snap off an insult in return, or simply turn and walk away like the pussy he was. But the bastard just kept smiling at her. To tell the truth, it was starting to get a little creepy. There was something about the way that he was looking at her that was... off.  
  
"Well, I hope you have a great day, Jack," he finally said, making a quick saluting motion with his hand. "And just remember how glad we are to have you become one of us."  
  
And before Jack could question him further, the little prick happily jaunted away.  
  
"Become one of us," Jack muttered to herself. "Fuck does that mean? Like I'm a member of Shepard's crew all of a sudden?"  
  
Yeah, Shepard had gone out of her way to help Jack out, and she supposed that she owed Shepard for that. But going up against those bug things, nearly bursting her own brain in her skull keeping up that barrier for what had seemed like ten miles... Jack figured she'd paid back her debt. The only reason she was still on this goddamn ship was because she didn't have anything better to do. Well, and all of the many governments who would scoop her up in a heartbeat if she set foot within their sights.

"One of us," Jack said again as the lift took her to Deck 3. Fuck, she hated the sound of that.  
  
Just as she turned the corner and was about to step into the ladies room, the door opened and Miranda damn near knocked her off her feet.  
  
"Fuck, cheerleader," she growled at Miranda as she recovered her balance. "Just because you turned from Cerberus's lapdog to Shepard's doesn't mean you..."  
  
Miranda let out a exasperated sigh. God, Jack hated when she did that. "Jack, I'm seriously not in the mood," she said, extreme aggravation apparent in her voice. "So do me a favor and don't say another word to me right now."  
  
God, Jack loved to see the cheerleader all flustered like this. She raised a finger and was about to let loose with a string of taunts when...  
  
Nothing came out.  
  
Jack swallowed. Throat was a little dry this morning. She took a breath and...  
  
Still nothing.  
  
"What the fuck?" she wanted to exclaim out loud, but it was like she had forgotten how to speak. Miranda stared at her in confusion for a little while, before getting tired of Jack to respond and walking away.  
  
Jack rubbed at her throat. "Fucking stuck-up bitch," finally came out just as soon as Miranda was out of earshot.  
  
This morning was just going from weird to weirder.  
  
Stepping into the bathroom, Jack spied the asari under the spray and immediately tensed for just a second. She never did like hanging around Samara. She knew the justicar bitch was still being led around on Shepard's chain, but Jack could never shake the feeling that the asari cop was just waiting for the right opportunity to put a bullet in a certain escaped convict's pretty shaved head.  
  
Well, if she was going to make her move, apparently it wasn't today. Samara heard the door open and gave a Jack a quick smile. "Good morning," she said as she shut off her shower and grabbed a towel from a nearby hook.  
  
"Mmm," Jack offered in response, not wanting to engage anyone today any more than was necessary. Something weird was going on. That thing with Ken and then losing her voice around Miranda... she couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was, but the sooner she was back in her safe spot on the lower deck and away from every other fucker on this ship, the better.  
  
As Jack threw off her chest straps and worked on removing her pants, she glanced over at Samara drying herself and whistled. "Nice ass."  
  
Samara's eyes shot to Jack. "I beg your pardon?"  
  
"I said, 'high class,'" Jack said as the nude asari turned to face her. Glancing down, she smirked. "As in, 'you could be a high class hooker with a set of tits like those.'"  
  
Her brow furrowing, Samara turned away from Jack without a word. Cackling to herself, Jack discarded the rest of her clothing and stepped under one of the shower heads.  
  
"Aw, yeah," Jack let out a contented sigh as the hot water hit her. The life she led before Purgatory nabbed her didn't offer a lot of opportunities for a nice, warm shower like this. At least, not without the threat of the wardens or the other prisoners bending you over for a little friendly ass rape. Jack had to admit that being press-ganged into a suicide mission on a ship like this had its perks, and this was definitely one of them.  
  
Scrubbing herself with soap, she could almost feel the world slip away as she took her time washing every last bit of grease and grime from her body. She was so into the moment of luxury, she almost tumbled off her feet onto the tile when she heard a loud slamming sound from behind her.  
  
Whirling to see the source of the sound, she saw the other Cerberus engineer standing and watching her. One of Jack's boots had fallen off the bench where she'd lain it onto the floor, which explained the loud noise.   
  
It took her a moment to remember the name of the engineering girl... right, Gabby. As in "bitch never shuts the fuck up." Gotta love those handy memory tricks.  
  
"You enjoying the show?" Jack said.  
  
The last thing she expected was for the petite little engineer to start nodding. "Very much so, yeah," she said. Suddenly, Jack could almost feel the Cerberus stooge's eyes lingering on every bared inch of her anatomy.

"Yeah, well, how about you fuck off?" Jack snapped, her good mood from the feeling of the warm shower completely spoiled. "Come back later and eye up the cheerleader's perfect little tits if you're looking for something to rub one out to."  
  
But Gabby wasn't moving. "I can see why she chose you," she said, with a tone in her voice that Jack had never heard from the engineer before. "It's such a wonderful feeling to become one of us."  
  
Again with this "become one of us" shit. Jack reached for the shower controls, ready to head over and ask Gabby what the fuck she was talking about.  
  
"Wait," Gabby said, and Jack's hand hesitated.  
  
Groaning in annoyance, Jack put on a snide tone. "What, you that fucking horny that you're gonna finger yourself to me right here?"  
  
"Maybe," Gabby quickly said. "But it's only natural. I mean, all these weeks, months cooped up on this ship. I can't imagine I'm the only one feeling a little pent up around here."  
  
"This is a really fucking interesting conversation about your snatch, here, Gabby. But I've got things to do, so..."  
  
Gabby didn't even seem to hear her. "I mean, even you, Jack. Down there alone by yourself, nobody to touch you when you need them to. I know you're feeling so damn horny right now."  
  
"Yeah, you know all about..." Jack gasped, as she felt a familiar, anxious sensation down between her legs. It wasn't that slow, warm feeling that led to a lazy afternoon of finger-fucking; this came on hard and fast, out of absolutely nowhere.  
  
Leaning a hand against the wall of the shower, Jack struggled to keep her breath even as she snapped at Gabby. "Would you get the fuck out of here already?"  
  
"And miss the show?" Gabby said, sitting down on the end of a bench and leaning forward, her eyes never leaving Jack's nude, twitching body. "I mean, I can just tell by looking at you, Jack. That you're the horniest you've ever felt in your life."  
  
"Ohhhhh," Jack moaned, both hands now against the wall. She started hyperventilating as the feeling in her groin grew more and more overwhelming.  
  
"You're so horny, Jack, that you don't even care that somebody's watching you," Gabby purred. "You've just got to get off, right here, right now."  
  
"Fuuuuuuuuck," Jack grimaced as she shot one of her hands down between her legs, feverishly rubbing two fingers against her aching clit. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck..." she muttered repeatedly, almost a mantra as she desperately tried to push herself towards a climax.  
  
Throwing her head back and forth, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. "Yes," she hissed, as she withdrew her hand from between her legs and snatched up the thin, ribbed bottle of shampoo. "Oh, fuck yes," she moaned as she quickly thrust the plastic bottle in and out of her pussy, her other hand pressing and rubbing against her clit as she fucked herself.  
  
"Yesssssss!" Jack triumphantly shouted as she felt her climax hit. Hit so hard, in fact, that by the time it had finished, she was too weak to even stand, and sat down on the floor under the hot shower spray waiting for the sensations to pass.  
  
When she had finally recovered the breath to speak, she remembered how this had all started and looked over her shoulder. "Well, you got what you wanted, you perv..."  
  
But Gabby wasn't there anymore. Jack was alone in the room.  
  
For a brief moment, Jack began to wonder if she'd imagined Gabby's entrance. Hell, the shit she was saying... Jack could have never imagined that weak little Cerberus toadie saying that freaky shit.  
  
Quickly drying and getting dressed, Jack almost ran to the lift to return back to engineering and the safety of her hiding place.  
  
Hopefully, by the time they reached the Citadel, this messed-up shit will finally have passed.


	11. Zero Compliance (The Citadel)

After about eight mugs of the weak-as-piss excuse for beer they had at this Presidium hotel bar, Jack had pretty much forgotten all about the strange events that had occurred on the Normandy hours before.

The few times she had visited the Citadel in the past, she'd usually stuck to the Lower Wards, and kept her head down as much as possible. She had forgotten what exactly she was wanted for in Council space these days, but she had most likely racked up enough counts of it to put her away for a very long time.

But fuck it, you only live once (although Shepard would beg to differ). And besides, she was a member of the Normandy's crew now. If she got arrested, she was pretty sure Shepard would come bail her ass out, throw her big old Spectre muscles around a bit. So as soon as they'd hit port, Jack had immediately made her way to the ritziest, most expensive joint on the whole damn station. She'd shot cocky looks back at all the stuffed shirts and rich bitches that bugged their eyes out at her barely concealed tits and colorful ink, before setting down on a barstool and slamming down her credit chit with a grin.

Jack wondered how Shepard would have reacted if she's known Jack had been squirreling away credits from every mission she was brought on. Hell, from the shit she managed to loot from the Shadow Broker's ship alone, she had enough credits to her name that she could have afforded a nice set of diamond earrings to hang from her nipples if she wanted. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea: give the cheerleader an eyeful of that the next time she ran into her in the showers, watch her get all squirmy.

"The Shadow Broker's ship..." Jack muttered to herself. There had been something else, hadn't there? Something she'd found on the ship, but had been taken away. Dammit, what was with her brain today? She could almost picture it, walking into the lab where that drell was getting deep-fried, finding... finding...

"Did you say something, ma'am?" the bartender asked her.

"None of your damn business," Jack muttered, taking the last sip of her glass and shoving it toward him. "Gimme another one," she demanded, her words slurring slightly.

The bartender frowned, but obediently took the glass and went to refill it.

"Unbelievable!" said a voice to her right. She turned to see a doofy-looking guy in a terrible suit plop down on the barstool next to hers. "Lady goes to all the trouble of setting this up, and then pulls this!" Turning to Jack, he glanced down at her bare torso before returning his eyes back to her face. "Take my advice: don't waste your time on iPartner. I mean, they all seem really great on the site, but once you meet them in person, it's a whole other story. I mean, this chick was..."

"So, hey, here's a fun fact," Jack interrupted, as the bartender returned with another beer. "I don't really give a shit. So how about you shut your goddamn mouth and let me drink in peace, okay?"

The man shot her a nasty look. "Yeah, you women. All of you the damn same." He stood up and sneered at her. "Blow me, bitch."

Every eye in the bar turned as the glass in Jack's hand fell from her grasp and shattered onto the floor. In a flash, Jack was on her knees in front of the shocked man. Gasps rang out as she yanked down his pants in one swift motion, and wrapped her lips around his flaccid dick.

"Wh... what the fu..." the man stammered, as Jack put her well-practiced cock-sucking skills to work on the jerk's member.

All the while, as she heard some of the patrons start to bolt from the room, Jack's mind was reeling. "What the fuck are you doing?" she asked herself, even as she smiled in satisfaction to see the guy's prick start to stiffen under her tongue. Staring up at him, she gave him a wink before taking his entire length down her throat.

Behind her, she could hear the bartender putting in a call to C-Sec. The rational part of her brain told her that now would be an excellent time to be somewhere else, but she couldn't make her body move, except to continue lapping and sucking on this guy's stiff prick.

"Ohh," the man moaned, still too shocked to take any action other than to watch as the total stranger deep-throated his cock. "Oh, fuck me..." he finally muttered.

It was simultaneously the best and worst possible thing he could have said.

Using her biotics, Jack flung him back-first to the floor. While the few remaining patrons in the room gawked, Jack unhooked her belt and casually dropped her pants to the floor, while whipping the straps off her chest to expose her pierced nipples. The guy tried to elbow his way backwards, but Jack wasn't about to let him get away. Clad in just her boots, she bent down and aimed the man's damp cock at her pussy, and sank down slowly until he was fully inside her.

"Fuck yeah," Jack moaned, as she rocked her hips back and forth on his stiff rod. The people staring at her, the C-Sec officers that were probably on her way, none of that mattered now. The only thing that mattered to her now was the hard cock pumping in and out of her, grinding against her clit in just the right way.

Just as she felt herself start to climax, a gloved hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Pardon me for saying miss, but you probably should have waited until you got back to the room."

Jack looked up, while continuing to move her hips up and down the groaning man's shaft. Two C-Sec officers were standing there, flanking their frowning turian captain.

"Just give me one second, fellas," Jack said. Underneath her, her unwitting sexual partner groaned, and Jack let out a sigh as she felt his warm cum filling her insides. The two officers grabbed her by the arms and lifted her off of him, Jack feeling the man's load dripping down her inner thighs.

The C-Sec captain shook his head as he stared down at the stunned man. "Jesus, Buchera! This is the fourth time we've had to haul you in for soliciting. You could have at least waited to get somewhere private before you sampled the goods."

"What?" Buchera cried out, as one of the officers fitted him with handcuffs. "But Captain Terruptus, I wasn't, I swear! This crazy bitch just tore my pants off and started having sex with me! I didn't pay her a single credit!"

"Uh, huh," Terruptus seemed unconvinced. "That's exactly the same thing you said when they caught you with that batarian hooker outside of Flux." He motioned to the officers. "Take him back to the station house."

The turian turned to Jack. "Now, miss, you must be new to the Citadel, so let me explain a few things. I'm not going to claim there's no prostitution on this station, but generally we like to keep it a little bit more discreet than this. Now, I'm gonna have to take you in, but..." Staring at her for a moment, he spat out a curse. "Dammit, I know who you are. You're with Shepard, aren't you?"

"Yep," Jack said, always quick to find the best way out of a sticky situation. "We're like best buddies, me and her. If she found out you were hauling me into prison, she'd get soooo pissed. You hear how bad she fucked up Harkin? That'll be like a vacation on a Tefnut resort station compared to what she'll do with you if you fuck with me."

"Shit," Terruptus looked torn.

"Captain Terruptus, report. Nolentis, you there?" called out of a voice on the captain's radio. "We've got a report of a break-in at the Castellani estate. Get over there as soon as possible."

Putting a hand to his ear, Terruptus responded. "On it." Looking back at Jack, he let out a sigh. "Look, just get dressed and get the hell out of here. You're lucky you're with Shepard."

"Don't I know it?" Jack said, quickly following the cop's instructions.

* * *

Jack's head felt jumbled as she strode down the Presidium, trying to work out what the hell had just happened.

It certainly hadn't been the first time she'd jumped a guy when she'd had too much to drink. But she didn't think she had been that drunk, and she'd never really done something like that out in public before. Well, okay, once... she hadn't touched Red Janey vodka since, that shit fucked you up but good.

But still... when the guy had said "blow me," it was like someone else took control of her body. Her arms and legs, and especially her mouth, just started moving of their own accord.

She was getting those bad vibes again. Those memories of the Teltin facility returning to her. How many times had she done something without even thinking then? Followed instructions to the letter, out of fear of the punishment she would receive if she didn't.

"Hey, watch it!" called out a ditzy-looking teenager in a silky pink blouse. Jack has been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had walked headlong into the girl. Looking down at Jack, the girl smirked. "Jeez, put on a shirt, why don't you?"

A few seconds later, the girl ran away screaming, her arms crossed over her exposed bra, while Jack fastened the last button of the blouse over her chest and kept walking. Something was eating at her. She felt like she was just at the edge of the solution, but it kept shifting out of her grasp.

"Answer this question for me," said a voice, startling her out of her thoughts. "Are you feeling confused, worn down by all your troubles in life?"

"You bet I am," Jack said, turning to see the speaker, and coming face-to-face with a vending machine.

"Well, buy a can of Tupari today, and we bet you'll start feeling better right away! Tupari: it'll put your mind at ease."

Pulling out her credit chit, Jack swiped it into the machine, and a can of Tupari tumbled out into the tray. Picking it up, she smirked. "Not feeling much better, gotta say," she addressed the machine.

As Jack started to turn away, she heard. "Answer this question for me: are you feeling confused, worn down by all your troubles in life?"

"Yeah, sure am," Jack automatically answered.

"Well, buy a can of Tupari today, and we bet you'll start feeling better right away! Tupari: it'll put your mind at ease."

Jack swiped her credit chit, and picked up the can of Tupari that the machine dispensed. Carrying the two cans under her arm, she turned in the direction of the Normandy's docking station and started to walk.

"Answer this question for me: are you feeling confused, worn down by all your troubles..."

Twenty minutes later, a lighted message appeared on the machine: "MACHINE OUT OF STOCK. AN ATTENDANT HAS BEEN CALLED TO REFILL THIS MACHINE," and the electronic voice stopped.

As she carefully balanced the large pile of beverages in her arms, Jack decided that maybe shore leave hadn't been such a great idea after all.


	12. Zero Compliance (Before Illium)

Fuck, she couldn't believe she was actually doing this. If the Jack from a few months ago had seen what the Jack of today was about to do, she would have pulled out her shotgun and put herself out of her own future misery.  
  
But if something was going screwy with her head, she needed to get it fixed. And there was only one headshrinker she had access to at the moment. So she had no choice, even if Kelly was a former Cerberus lackey.  
  
She barged into Kelly's office (after about fifteen minutes trying to figure out where the fuck it was) to find the ship's counselor in the middle of a video chat with someone.  
  
"Yeah, she'll be at Wavelength two nights from now," Kelly was saying to the person on the other end. "Dark hair and a pink dress," she paused to allow the other person to speak, Jack unable to make out the words from where she was standing. "Oh, she'll be nervous at first, but in the end, she'll love it. I know I did when you ladies..." Looking up, Kelly saw Jack and smiled. "Somebody just stepped into my office. Thanks again for everything. Bye."  
  
Standing up, Kelly put on that well-practiced fake smile of hers, and it was almost enough to make Jack run right back out the door. "Jack, what a surprise! I actually have an appointment in a little while, but I've got some time if you..."  
  
"Fuck 'em, my problem's worse," Jack said, slouching back into Kelly's chair for visitors. "Could seriously affect my performance in the field and all that shit."  
  
Leaning back in her chair, Kelly tented her fingers. Shit, is that something they taught in shrink school or something? Every one of these bullshit psychologists they had sent her to, they all did that same thing. "That does sound serious. Tell me what's been going on."  
  
And, just as Kelly instructed, Jack began spilling the beans. She had been planning to leave out the more carnal details of her encounters with Gabby and that terribly-dressed douche in the hotel bar, but under the influence of whatever was fucking with her mind at the moment, Kelly's instruction caused Jack to tell every last detail of what had been happening.  
  
About halfway through her confession, Jack finally realized what was bugging her. All the other shrinks she'd been forced to talk to in the past, they would have been taking notes like crazy with all the things Jack was saying. But Kelly was just sitting and listening, fingertips still pressed together. The only change to her demeanor came when Jack started talking about her self-pleasuring in the shower, or fucking that guy out in public. Those stories brought a slight smile to her face.  
  
"And then I came here, because I want this shit to stop," Jack finished. "Seems like any time anyone tells me to do something, I just can't help myself. You got some pills or some shit you can give me to make this go away?"  
  
The smile returned to Kelly's face, but it wasn't friendly like before. "It's proceeding very well, I see. It won't be long now, before you're one of us."  
  
Hearing those words again sent a chill through Jack's body. "You're part of this, aren't you? You, Ken and Gabby... you're all fucking with me!"  
  
"We're not fucking with you, Jack," Kelly said, as she rose to her feet. "Not yet, at least. We're just trying to show you how wonderful it is to obey. To let yourself be controlled."  
  
Jack tensed, ready to bolt for the door. "Stop," Kelly said, seeing Jack starting to make her move. "You can't move until I tell you that you can."  
  
Dammit, no. Jack gritted her teeth, trying to force herself to rise from the chair, but all her efforts resulted in nothing.  
  
"What are you doing to me, you bitch?" Jack snarled at Kelly.  
  
"I'm not doing anything to you," Kelly said, walking around the desk to stand in front of Jack. "It's what _she's_ doing to you. She's inside your mind now, Jack. No matter how hard you resist, she's in control now."  
  
"Who the fuck is 'she'?" Jack asked desperately, still struggling against the command to stay in place.  
  
Kelly laughed. "Seriously, Jack? Do you really need to ask that question?"  
  
No, she didn't. It was all starting to fall into place now. Dammit, that bitch. How had Shepard been stupid enough to trust her?

"Stand up, Jack," Kelly instructed, and Jack immediately obeyed. "I want to show you something." Sitting back on the edge of her desk, Kelly gestured at Jack with a finger. "Take off all your clothes, would you kindly."  
  
Glaring daggers at Kelly, Jack unfastened the strap around her chest. "I'll kill you all. You, her, the whole lot of you are fucking dead," she promised, as she dropped her pants and underwear to the floor.  
  
Kelly girlishly giggled. "You think she hasn't already thought of that? You'd put a bullet into your own brain before you'd be able to harm any of us."  
  
Jack was finally naked, shivering in the cool recycled air of the Normandy. Kelly leaned back to get the full picture of Jack's body. "Mmm, what a work of art." Reaching forward, she traced a line with her finger over one of Jack's surgical scars. "I can't wait until it's all finished, and you're completely one of us. We're going to have so much fun together, Jack. I promise. But for now..." Kelly dropped to her knees in front of Jack. "Spread your legs wider, please."  
  
This wasn't happening. Jack knew that Kelly was a slut, but she was going to do this right here, in her own office on the Normandy? Jack shifted her legs apart, and Kelly began working a finger in-between her pussy lips.  
  
"See, you don't want to admit it, Jack," Kelly said, as she wiggled her finger around inside of Jack, "but the reason it's been so easy for her to do this to you is that deep down, I think you _want_ to be controlled. All the running you've been doing, all the denial, and it's all to hide from the truth. That you were born to be a slave."  
  
"Fuck you," Jack said, struggling not to show the arousal she was feeling, as Kelly's finger rubbed at her most sensitive spots. "I'm not a goddamn slave, and I never will be, no matter what she does to me."  
  
Kelly arched an eyebrow, as she withdrew her finger to show it to Jack. It was damp and glistening. "Your body's telling me another story, Jack," Kelly said. "It turns you on, doesn't it? Being used like this, helpless at someone else's command." Putting two fingers up inside Jack, Kelly's expert touch found Jack's g-spot again, and Jack couldn't hold back her moans as Kelly firmly pressed against the sensitive area. "Tell the truth, Jack: you like how this feels, don't you?"  
  
"Yes," Jack immediately answered, feeling her excitement steadily building.   
  
But it was an unfair question: she was talking about the shit Kelly was doing inside her cunt. Not that she was being turned on by being ordered around.  
  
She wasn't, dammit.  
  
As Kelly's fingertips continued to press and rub against Jack's insides, she began darting her tongue across the barbell piercing through Jack's clit. After a few more minutes of this, Jack couldn't hold back any longer. The orgasm was intense, more powerful than she'd ever experienced before, and she could feel herself squirting all over Kelly's face.  
  
"Didn't I tell you?" Kelly said, smiling up at Jack with juices smeared all over her mouth and face. "Just think: you'll be able to cum like this every day once you've fully become one of us. You won't even be able to remember why you resisted it for so long."  
  
Jack, still gasping from the mind-blowing climax she'd just experienced, could only whimper in response.  
  
Standing up, Kelly leaned in and gave Jack an open-mouthed kiss. Jack could taste her own arousal on Kelly's tongue and wanted to retch. "Now," Kelly said as she pulled away. "I'd love to have you stay and play with me some more, but as I said, I have an appointment about to arrive. But I have some instructions for you before you leave."  
  
Walking around to the other side of the desk, while wiping at her face, Kelly sat down and pulled up her computer terminal. "I'm going to be sending an address on Illium to your omni-tool. Once we arrive, you will be at that address precisely at the time I specify in the message." Glancing back at Jack, still naked and shuddering in the aftermath of her intense climax, Kelly smirked. "Oh, and you can get dressed and leave, by the way."

Jack did so quickly, wanting to get away before Kelly gave her any further instructions. On the way out the door, she saw Miranda heading towards Kelly's office. "Don't say anything to me," Jack barked at her. "Don't tell me to do anything, don't..." Groaning in anger, she clapped her hands on her ears and sang the first song that came to her head, just to keep any more instructions from coming her way.  
  
It had all fallen into place. Kelly had confirmed her suspicions completely. Jack knew exactly what was going on, and who the "she" was that was behind it all.  
  
As she made her way back to her safe place in engineering, her eyes locked on that fucking symbol on the wall. The same one she had seen when she'd broken loose from Purgatory and saw it emblazoned on her "rescue" ship. Dammit, she'd been such an idiot.  
  
Cerberus. In the end, it always came back to Cerberus. And to Miranda, the bitch that was behind all of it.  
  
It made so much sense to her now. They made such a big show of Miranda "quitting" Cerberus, the Illusive Man putting all his acting skills to work at faking his anger. Just like when he pretended to have no idea what had happened to Jack at Pragia.   
  
So now Miranda was above suspicion. But the truth was, she had never left Cerberus. Neither did all the rest of them. All that "one of us" talk, she finally understood: they were going to brainwash all the others on this ship. Indoctrinate them into loyal servants of Cerberus. Kelly, Ken, Gabby... they were all still pawns of the Illusive Man. And Miranda, of course. The worst of them all.  
  
"A mistake," that's what Miranda had called her. And now they were correcting the mistake. Jack would be the first, of course; the Illusive Man wouldn't be able to resist getting his former test subject under control again. And once "Subject Zero" was a loyal Cerberus drone, they'd go after the rest. The only thing Jack wasn't sure of at this point was whether or not they'd try to brainwash the aliens, too. Or just throw them all out the airlock and return the ship back to Cerberus once every human on the ship was under their control.  
  
When she reached her cot in engineering, she started making her plans. The message that Kelly had mentioned in her office arrived on Jack's omni-tool, and she smirked. "Fuck you, bitch," she said.  
  
Once they reached Illium, the first thing she would do is book herself passage on another ship. By the time Kelly's deadline arrived, Jack would be so far away from Illium that even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to make it in time.  
  
Back on the run from Cerberus. Jack sighed, as she realized that her cozy existence here on the Normandy was about to come to an end. But she should have never let herself get comfortable. It was her lot in life, it seemed, to always be looking over her shoulder.  
  
So she would leave the Normandy. And hopefully, once she had her distance from this damned ship, whatever shit Miranda had done to her head would wear off. "And if it doesn't," Jack thought to herself, "Plenty of ways to off yourself out there. Because I'll be damned if I let those Cerberus assholes put their hands on me again."  
  
Laying back on the cot, Jack grabbed the pillow and wrapped it around her head, pressing it hard against her ears.  
  
Her last thoughts before drifting to sleep were of Shepard. Jack hated having to leave her behind with these traitorous Cerberus bastards, but she couldn't afford to warn Shepard and potentially ruin her escape plans. Besides, they were even, anyway: Shepard had sprung her from jail, and Jack saved her ass on the Collector station.   
  
She didn't owe Shepard anything.


	13. Zero Compliance (Illium)

She brought nothing with her, other than what could fit in her pockets. She wanted to give no sign of what she had planned, to Miranda or any of the other Cerberus assholes. Couldn't bring a weapon, unfortunately; there was no way she'd get it past the screeners at the space-port. But that didn't matter. Once she was off Illium, she'd find a way over to Omega, where she still had a few contacts who could hook her up with a piece.  
  
Walking down the CIC to the airlock, Jack frowned as she saw who waited there. "Have a nice time," said Kelly, that damned fake smile still on her face. Jack gave her a wicked grin back.  
  
"You think you and Miranda have me beat, but I'm smarter than you thought, bitch," she thought to herself as she stepped out into the pristine beauty of Illium.  
  
As soon as she was off the ship, she stuck a pair of wireless earbuds into her ear canals and cranked up the classical music that she had prepared. Not normally her style of music, but if she had used what she usually listened to block out the world, some of the lyrics might cause her to do things that would, at the very least, spoil any attempts to escape the Normandy and probably land her in jail, to boot.  
  
"They always used to say that music could be a bad influence," Jack thought to herself mirthfully. "They had no fucking idea."  
  
She was taking no chances. She kept her eyes down at the floor as she walked to the spaceport, afraid that even seeing written instructions might trigger whatever Miranda put in her head. The music in her ears drowned out anyone who might try to give her commands or cause her to waver from her path.  
  
It took her a while, but soon she was in line at the spaceport ticket counter. Looking at the schedule, she picked the flight with the earliest departure time. Didn't matter where it was going. Just as long as it was away from this goddamned ship.  
  
The turian in front of her finished his transaction, and the asari working the desk smiled up at Jack. "Destination, please?"  
  
Removing her earbuds, Jack spoke. "Yeah, give me a t...." was all she managed to say before her throat seemed to clamp shut.  
  
No. Fuck no.  
  
The asari looked at her strangely, as she tried to force herself to speak. "I need a t... ti..."  
  
"Ma'am, are you alright?" the cashier asked her. "Do you require assistance?"  
  
"You can't go, Jack," said a voice in her head, unmistakably Miranda's. "You've got an appointment to keep, remember?"  
  
Shaking her head violently, Jack kept straining to speak. The people behind her were starting to sound impatient, and the ticket seller looked very uncomfortable. Her finger drifted over to a button nearby, most likely to call for assistance.  
  
"Have to do this," Jack thought to herself, trying to drown out Miranda's mocking voice in her head. Finally, she spotted an electronic display on the wall to her side. Desperately, she put a finger on her chosen destination and tapped rapidly.  
  
"O...okay, that'll be 800 credits," said the ticket seller, still uncomfortable but probably happy to have found a way to get this strange human away from her. It was a struggle, but Jack was able to pull out her credit chit and place it in front of the asari, who swiped it and handed her a ticket. "Have a nice flight, ma'am," she deadpanned. "Next, please!"  
  
Jack stared at the ticket in her hand, as a triumphant smile came to her face. "I beat her," she muttered. "Fuck you, Miranda. I'm not your slave."  
  
Then she realized that the final boarding for the ship was in ten minutes. She started running toward the gate, shoving people aside in her way as she sped toward her freedom.  
  
Finally, she reached the gate. The last few passengers to board were waiting for their tickets to be checked. Jack made to walk to the line.  
  
And stopped dead in her tracks.  
  
"Fuck," Jack snarled, drawing a few glances from the crowd. She tried again, staring down at her own feet and watching as they refused to move. "Please, please, you can do this!" she said, hearing a sob start to form in her voice.  
  
"Excuse me," said a slim salarian as he passed her. Desperately, Jack grabbed onto his shoulder.  
  
"Tell me to get on that flight!" she said to the alien.

The salarian looked at her uncomfortably. "What?"  
  
"Just do it!" she yelled. "Order me to walk up and get on that flight! Please!"  
  
"I don't have time for... whatever this is. I have a meeting to get to. Excuse me," the salarian brushed her hand off his shoulder and walked away.  
  
Jack stared around at the crowd, feeling tears start to run down her cheeks and not caring. "Somebody, please! Tell me to get on that shuttle! Anybody, just tell me to do it!"  
  
She got several odd looks from the people passing her by, but nobody answered her request.  
  
"Excuse me, miss," said a voice from behind her. She turned to see two asari security officers. "Is there a problem here?"  
  
"I... I can't..." Jack's shoulders heaved. As she stared down at the floor, she heard a beeping alarm coming from her omnitool.  
  
"FIFTEEN MINUTES UNTIL YOUR SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT"  
  
Looking over her shoulder, she saw the spaceport staff closing off the entrance to the shuttle, as the pilots made their final preparations to pull away from dock.  
  
"If you need help, we can call somebody," the asari security officer kindly told her.  
  
"No, I'm fine," Jack said, already starting to walk away. "I've got somewhere I have to be."  
  
It was like she was just a passive observer in her own body, as she made her way out of the spaceport and towards the address Kelly had given her. After a long walk, she arrived at the location with a minute to spare. The place looked like some sort of storage facility, not sure why Kelly wanted her to come here.  
  
As she wiped the tears from her cheeks, she watched the time on her omni-tool count down. "Maybe, once I'm done with whatever Kelly has in store for me, I can just stay in Nos Astra," she thought. "Find some place to hide until the Normandy has left."  
  
But Jack wasn't fooling herself. She was willing to bet that, whatever Miranda had done to her mind, she had made sure that escape was impossible. No doubt that, as the time to return to the Normandy came close, she would watch her own feet direct her back to the ship.  
  
"But I have to try," she told herself. "If nothing else, I have to give it a shot. Just park myself on a bench and refuse to move. Get a pair of fucking handcuffs if I have to. And then..."  
  
The clock hit the appointed time. Jack's hand reached out to open the door. She stepped in and saw...

* * *

"Hey, hey, Jack!" she heard a voice call out, and her eyes snapped open.  
  
It was Shepard. The red-headed commander of the Normandy was staring down at her with a bemused expression. "Party a little too hard on shore leave?"  
  
Jack blinked, totally confused. The last thing she remembered was opening the door and seeing... what had she seen? "Wha... where the fuck am I?"  
  
"Guess that's a 'yes'," Shepard said, smiling as she sat down next to Jack. "You're lucky Nos Astra security didn't pick you up, sleeping on a bench in the middle of the commercial district like this."  
  
Looking around, Jack finally recognized the surroundings. "Goddamn it," she muttered, rubbing at her eyes. She felt sore all over, her muscles aching. It did kinda feel like a hangover, but she was pretty sure that Kelly hadn't just forced her to drink herself into a blackout.  
  
What the fuck had happened? Looking at her omni-tool, she saw that two hours had passed since the time she arrived at the address. It was like somebody had completely removed her memory of the last few hours.  
  
"Fucking with my head," Jack muttered to herself. "Goddamn that bitch..."  
  
Shepard's face turned concerned. "Who is? Has somebody been doing things to you, Jack?"  
  
"Forget it," Jack waved a hand at her. "Wouldn't believe me, anyway."  
  
"Jack, considering the problems I've had trying to convince people that the Reapers are coming, I'm willing to listen to just about anything with an open mind. So try me."  
  
Leaning forward and putting her head between her knees, Jack groaned. "Somebody's fucking with my mind. Taking control of my body, making me do things I don't want to do. Whatever somebody tells me to do, I do it, immediately and without question. Like I'm a goddamn puppet on somebody else's strings."  
  
Shepard's face immediately turned troubled. "Damn it. I didn't want to believe she was capable of something like this."  
  
"She... you know? You know who's behind this?" Jack exclaimed. "Shepard, you gotta stop her! I can't do a damn thing, she's fucked with my mind too much already. But you could take her out!"  
  
Shepard shook her head. "It's not that simple. I'm not sure it's her who's behind this. There's not enough proof, not yet."  
  
Dammit, Shepard, Jack thought to herself. Always the goody-two-shoes, doing the "innocent until proven guilty" shit.  
  
"Shepard, you gotta do something!" Jack begged her. "I can't go back to that ship, can't have her screwing with my brain anymore. I won't be a slave, I won't, I won't..."  
  
"Calm down, Jack," Shepard gripped her by the shoulders. And just with every other order she'd been given, Jack could feel her heart rate slow and her breathing start to even out. "Look, I've got some leads to check out. Trying to figure out the best way to break whatever control she has over you. Chances are you aren't the only one she's targeted. If I make my move too soon, without a way to counteract her control, she could have the entire crew against me."  
  
Shepard had a point, as much as it pained Jack to admit. She wasn't sure if the rest of the crew still on the Normandy were following Miranda because they were loyal to Cerberus, or because she'd done the same shit to them as she had to Jack. But either way, they were going to need every advantage they could get to take that bitch down. At the very least, if Shepard could find a way to override the shit Cerberus had done to Jack, she'd gleefully help Shepard plug as many of the bastards as she could before they took her down.  
  
"We're going to get through this, Jack," Shepard assured her. "Trust me."  
  
And the funny thing was, even though it was a direct command, Jack didn't really feel anything change. And she realized that she already trusted Shepard.

"Okay," Jack said. "I'll come back to the ship. But as soon as you're ready to make your move, let me know. And I'll happily blow that bitch and that pretty little ass of hers all the way to hell."  
  
"I'm hoping it isn't going to come to that," Shepard said sadly. "Maybe she can be reasoned with. But if that becomes necessary... I'd feel safer with you by my side, Jack."  
  
Shepard's last words brought something back to Jack, a question she had forgotten about with all the insanity going on. "Wanted to ask you something," she stopped Shepard from walking away. "Back when we took down the Shadow Broker... you could have taken anybody with you. The turian, the justicar... the damn assassin, for fuck's sake. But you took me. And damned if I could figure out why."  
  
The commander paused to choose her next words carefully. "Jack, I assume you know about me and Liara."  
  
Jack scoffed. "No fucking shit. Hard not to notice the two of you making those 'fuck-me' eyes at each other all the way to Hagalaz. Half expected you to start ripping each other's clothes off to embrace eternity right there in the CIC."  
  
"Jack, I love Liara more than I ever thought it possible for me to love anyone," Shepard said. "She is a part of me, just the same as any of my limbs or my lungs or my heart. And if I were to ever lose her... I don't know what I would do."  
  
Sitting down next to Jack again, Shepard turned to stare her in the eyes. "And when we were heading toward that ship, ready to meet up against an unknown enemy, I thought a lot about who I wanted to fight with me and Liara. And I knew that, more than anything else, I needed somebody with me with your ferocity, your passion for battle." She smirked as she added. "I wanted somebody with me who would do everything in her power to destroy every last motherfucker in our path, so that the woman I loved would live through whatever we faced off against."  
  
Jack couldn't help but grin, "Well, shit, glad I was homicidal enough to meet your standards," she said.  
  
"But it wasn't just that, Jack. When you held up that barrier against the seeker swarms, I saw how much it took out of you. If you wanted, you could have let that barrier down and made a break for it. Swarms probably would have gotten to me, Garrus, or Grunt before they got to you. But you damn near killed yourself protecting all of us. You may not like to admit it, but there's a part of you that wants to be part of a team. Who wants to fight alongside people you can trust, and have them put their trust in you as well."  
  
Standing up, Shepard reached out a hand to Jack. "So trust in me now, Jack. And I swear to you that I'll fix this mess I caused."  
  
Grabbing her hand, Jack let the commander pull her to her feet. "Alright, Shepard. I'll trust you. But you better fix this before that bitch mindfucks me into being her slave. Can't imagine a fate worse than that."


	14. Zero Compliance (Before Omega 1)

It wasn't long into their journey to Omega, a day or so probably, before Jack had finally decided she'd had enough.  
  
As soon as she had gotten back to the ship, she had bolted straight for her living space in engineering. Her earbuds went back into place, and she sat on her cot with her legs curled up against her chest. As the centuries-old music blared into her ears, her eyes darted back and forth between the two stairwells.  
  
"Anybody fucking comes down here except Shepard," she muttered to herself, "they better turn right back around if they know what's good for them."  
  
But nobody came. Jack still kept up her guard, though. Shepard promised that she was going to fix this, and Jack trusted her. But until Shepard herself said that everything was okay, and that Miranda had been taken care of, she wasn't taking any goddamn chances.  
  
Eventually, the gnawing feeling in her stomach became too much to ignore, however. Dashing up the stairs, she quickly made her way to the lift. Gabby passed on the way, and Jack quickly averted her eyes, the music in her ears blocking out whatever instructions the Cerberus bitch was trying to use on her.  
  
Once she reached Deck 3, she grabbed the first plate she saw on someone's table and charged back to her hiding place, the music in her ears blocking out any protests the unfortunate diner had. After wolfing down the meal back on her cot, she resumed her vigil.  
  
She didn't remember when she ended up dozing off, but she awoke to find Ken standing over her, staring down with that creepy fake smile that all the other brainwashed Cerberus fucks had been wearing these days.  
  
"Get the fuck out of here!" she cried out, loud over the music still playing in her ears. "You fuckers aren't going to get in my head again!"  
  
Ken said something, but Jack didn't hear it over the symphony that was damn near making her ears bleed. After she shouted at him some more, he finally gave up and left.  
  
"Can't do this anymore," Jack said to herself after he was gone. "Goddamnit, I ain't gonna let them make me into a cowering rat."  
  
Screw Shepard. Jack needed to start making her own plans. But she knew that she wasn't going to be able to manage on her own. She was going to need allies.  
  
But were there any allies left on this ship? Or had Miranda and Cerberus gotten to them all? There had to be somebody those humans-first pricks hadn't gotten to...  
  
The aliens. Shit, of course. They would be the ones most likely to still have their minds. Standing up, Jack made her way out of engineering toward the lift again at a determined pace.  
  
They wouldn't win. Those Cerberus fucks were going to have her and every last alien on this ship to contend with if they thought they were going to take the Normandy back to the Illusive Man. She was going to make sure of it.  
  
* * *  
  
"Shepard, what's going... Jack?" Garrus watched her enter the forward battery in surprise. "Uh, this is... unexpected."  
  
Garrus had been her first choice for a couple of reasons. For one, he was one of Shepard's oldest friends. If Jack could convince him that Miranda was out to brainwash all the people on this ship, including his buddy Shepard, he'd probably be the most likely to back any play she made. Plus, from what she heard about his time on Omega as Archangel, he was willing to do the type of shit that little Miss Girl Scout Shepard would consider too extreme.  
  
And even if she couldn't convince him right away, the guy had been C-Sec, and one of the few ones who wasn't a corrupt asshole. A good cop like him may not be willing to buy her claims right away, but he wouldn't be able to resist checking out the evidence. And once he did, Jack knew he'd see the same shit she was seeing.  
  
"Hey, gotta talk to you. Something private? Anybody else here?" she craned her neck to glance around the room.  
  
"Nobody except the twenty geth infiltrators cloaked and hiding right over there," Garrus pointed with a talon. "But don't worry, they're very discreet."

God, she didn't need the turian's fucking sense of humor, or lack thereof, right now. "You noticed anything weird going on lately? Like, people acting funny?"  
  
"Other than you actually coming out of hiding and talking to me... no, not really. But then again, I tend to spend most of my time in here making sure the guns are calibrated properly," Garrus chuckled. "Shepard used to always kid me about spending so much time worrying about our accuracy, but after these guns tore through the Collectors with absolutely no drift in aim, don't hear her laughing too much now."  
  
"Goddamn it, this is serious," Jack snapped at him. She didn't want to come right out and say it, just in case Cerberus had already gotten to him. "Think about it. Has anybody not been acting like their normal selves lately?"  
  
Garrus put two talons to his chin, or beak or whatever. "I honestly can't think of much. Although something's definitely eating Shepard these days. Really not sure why we're taking this sudden diversion to Omega. Plus that whole thing with the surveillance cameras..."  
  
Getting annoyed, Jack finally took the gamble. "What about Miranda? Anything weird going on with Miranda?"  
  
Jack didn't know much about reading turian emotions, with all their weird face parts, but she could tell right away that the mention of Miranda had shifted Garrus's demeanor immediately. "Uh, I... uh, what do you mean, weird, exactly?"  
  
Shit. Something was up, Jack was sure of it. "Had she come around to see you recently? Made you do anything? Like, shit you wouldn't normally do?"  
  
"No, no, nothing like that," Garrus said, way too quickly. "Look, it's been fun chatting with you, Jack, but I really should get back to these calibrations. How about you give me some privacy... I mean, give me some space to work here for a while, okay?"  
  
"B..." Jack started to say, but then she felt herself turning around and walking to the door. "Goddamn it!" she muttered under her breath, as the door to the forward battery closed behind her.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ah, excellent. Have actually been meaning to come speak to you, so glad you came by," Mordin was off on one of his tears before Jack had barely set foot inside the lab. "Know it's asking much of you, but wondering if you would mind undergoing a few tests regarding your amplified biotic abilities. Illusive Man's experiments barbaric, yes, but like Maelon's data, could lead to beneficial results."  
  
Jack frowned. If she could actually get the salarian to shut up for a few seconds, she might be able to convince him about what was going on. Hell, maybe if he poked around her head for a little bit, he could figure out what Miranda had done to her and fix it. But first, she had to make sure he wasn't compromised. "Maybe later. Just came by to ask if you'd seen anything strange going on with the crew lately."  
  
"Strange? Not that I am aware of. All crew appear to be functioning at peak efficiency. Stress and release of defeating Collectors have passed, resulting in return to normal routine. Dr. Chakwas reports no major medical issues with the crew. Curious why you, of all people, would express concerns about the crew."  
  
Jack decided to cut to the chase. "Has Miranda come by to see you recently?"  
  
And just like with Garrus, Mordin's mood immediately shifted. "Miss Lawson? N..no, haven't seen her. Why, have you talked to her recently? Mention my name, did she?"  
  
"Dammit," Jack cursed to herself. To Mordin she casually replied, "Never mind, it's nothing."  
  
A strange eagerness came into Mordin's voice. "If you should happen to encounter Miss Lawson, tell her for me that last experiment yielded... quite interesting results. Would like to have her visit again for another round of vigorous testing."  
  
Jack frowned at the nervous salarian. "Thought you said you hadn't seen her. When did you run an experiment with her?"  
  
"No time for these questions," Mordin said dismissively. "Very busy, have very important testing to work on. Must have privacy for next three hours at least. Do not disturb me until then."  
  
"I..." Jack tried in vain to continue the conversation, but Mordin's instruction already had her spinning on her heel and walking back out of the lab. "Fuck you, Miranda," she cursed.

* * *  
  
Jack's worst fears were being realized. Miranda had gotten to the rest of the crew, as well. Even the aliens, she had done something to keep them from talking to anyone. Probably some sort of hypnotic suggestion voodoo like she did to Jack.  
  
Still, she had to try the rest of them, even if the results were fruitless. As the door to the lift opened on Deck 3, Jack stepped to the side as Grunt walked in with a giant plate of steaming meat.  
  
Stepping out onto Deck 3, Jack turned and put a hand on the lift opening to keep the door from closing. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure nobody else was listening before she talked to Grunt. "Say, big guy, can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Grr... make it fast, human," Grunt growled at her. "My mid-afternoon snack is already getting cold."  
  
Jack didn't have high hopes for getting any answers out of Grunt. Even without having his mind screwed with, the krogan wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. And while he'd be a powerful ally against Miranda and the rest of the indoctrinated Cerberus lackeys, she doubted she'd be able to lead him down the path of logic to realize that the crew was compromised.  
  
But it was worth a shot. "Don't suppose anybody besides Shepard has paid you a visit down in the cargo hold, recently? Like, say, Miranda?"  
  
As with the last two, the mention of her name immediately changed Grunt's demeanor. But instead of making him look uncomfortable, a wide grin came to the krogan's face. "Heh heh heh. Oh, yeah, she definitely paid me a visit. Showed me a few things about humans that Okeer didn't put into his memory implants, if you know what I mean."  
  
"What? You mean she..." Jack's jaw dropped. "Oh, no way! She didn't..."  
  
"She did. Several times. Do all of you humans smell like female krogans in heat when you're aroused? Or is she unique among your species? Either way, she seemed to find the experience quite agreeable." Grunt chuckled and slapped Jack's hand away from the lift door. "And unless you're making a similar offer, human, then we're done talking."  
  
The door slid shut, leaving Jack deep in thought.  
  
"The cheerleader... fucking Grunt?" she thought to herself, as she paced down the hallway. Seeing someone approaching, she quickly reinserted the earbuds, keeping any commands from reaching her eardrums. "She couldn't have. Miss Prim and Proper Lawson bending over for krogan cock? I don't want to even picture it."  
  
But it made Jack remember how Garrus and Mordin had reacted when she had mentioned Miranda's name. Jack had thought that Miranda had fucked with their brains to make them not want to talk about her. But what if she'd fucked with something else of theirs instead?  
  
"No damn way," Jack thought. But still, something about it made her curious. Soon, she was walking toward the life support section of the ship. The others were one thing, but Jack couldn't bring herself to believe that the stoic, spiritual drell could have been brought to heel by a nice set of tits and a gorgeous ass.  
  
"Hello, Jack," Thane said, looking up from his meditations as she entered. Like the rest of them, he was unable to disguise the surprise at her visit. "Have you entered the wrong room, perhaps? I believe the women's restroom is..."  
  
Storming over to the table before Thane could say another word, Jack pounded a fist down on the table to get his attention. "Shut up and answer my questions."  
  
Thane reacted to Jack's anger with bemusement. "Unfortunately, doing both would be... difficult."  
  
Jack gritted her teeth. God, this whole thing reminded her why she stayed down in the bowels of the ship most of the time. "Well, I'll make it easy for you. One question, real simple: has Miranda been in to visit you?"  
  
The smile on the drell's face faded. "Miranda? Yes, she..." Abruptly, Thane gripped the side of his head with his hands. "Please... it would be best if you would..."  
  
" _No_ , goddamn it! You're not getting rid of me like the others did!" Jack snapped. "Tell me what happened!"  
  
Thane was muttering something, and Jack had to lean down low to hear him feverishly repeating. "Think about tentacle-ball. Think about tentacle-ball."  
  
"Answer the question!" Jack yelled. "Miranda was here. What did she do to you? Think!"

Jack flinched back as Thane's head snapped back up. Looking at her with a strange expression, Thane's voice trembled as he spoke. "Whatever happens next, I apologize."  
  
And then his eyes were off her, and he was staring into space. His voice was distant, words spilling out of his mouth. "The door opens. She enters. Strange smile. Like Irikah seeing my arrival home after a long job. Flowers in her hand. 'Got these in Illium for a friend. How do they smell?'"  
  
As Thane rambled, Jack stood back and watched. She'd heard a bit about the drell and their weird memory thing. Maybe she'd be able to figure out what Miranda was up to from Thane's words.  
  
"The smell overwhelms me. A million thoughts enter my head one by one, each more vulgar than the last," Thane stood up out of his seat, moving strangely. Like he was reenacting the memory he was experiencing in his mind. "Memories of Irikah, of anything but the woman in front of me are gone. Must have her. Must... fuck her."  
  
The sound of the vulgar word coming out of the normally serene and polite drell was a surprise, but the even bigger shock to Jack (in more ways than one) was seeing the thick bulge straining against the fabric of Thane's pants. Shit, he really _was_ reliving this memory, in every way possible.  
  
"She drops to her knees, hands reaching for my belt. Pants hit the floor in a heap. Blue eyes staring up at mine. 'Tell me what to do, Thane. I'm your whore to command.' Waiting for me to direct her."  
  
"Oh, shit," Jack gasped, as she realized where this was going. Too late, she started fumbling for the earbuds in her pocket.  
  
"'Suck it,' I command her. 'Suck my cock.' Warm lips wrapped around me."  
  
Down on her knees in front of him, Jack reached for Thane's belt, working as quickly as possible to free the throbbing piece of meat pressing painfully against his slacks. As soon as his pants were open, Jack immediately pulled out his scaly green prick and engulfed it with her mouth.  
  
"I place my hand on her head, urging her on," Thane was completely lost in the memory of his encounter with Miranda. Still going through the motions, he placed his hand on top of Jack's bald head, forcing her face forward against his crotch. Jack felt the head of his cock pressing against the back of her throat, and pulled away to take a gasping breath before plunging forward again.  
  
He tasted... different. There was a pleasant tang on her tongue as she worked her mouth along Thane's scaly length. The asshole at the bar, she had tried to get him finished off as quickly, but Jack had to admit: this wasn't entirely unpleasant. Maybe once all of Miranda's mindfuckery was dealt with, and the bitch was dead in a ditch somewhere, Jack would pay another visit to Thane. Give him some new memories to make the ones from Miranda look like amateur hour.  
  
"I release the pressure. Pull her to her feet," Thane quickly said, and his body replayed the actions. "Her face is eager. Desperate. 'Tell me what you want to do. I'm yours to use.' I tell her: 'Take off your clothes.'"  
  
Jack was getting to be well-practiced at stripping herself naked on command. Thane continued to speak his memories back, while she unfastened her breast straps and tossed them aside, before yanking down her pants and underwear in one swift motion.   
  
"Her body is remarkable. Soft curves. So unlike a drell female, and yet so enticing. My head still spinning from the odor of the flowers."  
  
Funny thing was, Jack's head was spinning too. But damned if she'd smelled any flowers before she came in here. She wobbled on her feet, the room rippling like she was underwater. Was this more of Miranda fucking with her mind? Or was it... what had she heard about drell? Something about their skin and...  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by Thane's dictation of his memories. "I need to take her now. Cannot even wait to have her walk the five steps to my cot. 'Bend over and put your hands against the window,' I command her."  
  
Although she was feeling a bit light-headed, Jack complied with the instructions. She felt Thane's hands stroke her hips and let out a light moan.

"She is wet. Her body aching to receive me," Thane said. And as much as Jack hated the cheerleader, this was one situation where Jack and the Miranda of Thane's memory were in total accord.  
  
"Do it," Jack moaned, knowing that Thane wouldn't hear her in his state and not really giving a shit. "Fuck me, now."  
  
But whatever shit Miranda had done to Jack's head, she apparently hadn't performed the same operation on her other victims. Rather than immediately thrust his alien prick inside her, Thane started teasing her. The head of his cock pressed and rubbed against her pussy lips, one last push away from penetration but still not quite there.  
  
"I penetrate her slowly. Enjoy the sensation of sliding inside this enticing human," Thane said, as his cock started parting Jack's folds and entering her insides. Jack felt the almost uncontrollable urge to thrust her hips back and impale herself on him, but the last thing she wanted to do right now was anything that contradicted the memory that Thane was reliving. Shit, Miranda got to have her fun; why not let Jack have a ride, too?  
  
Thane was obviously in no hurry, and every second was delicious torture as his scaly, alien cock slowly filled her. The view of the Normandy's engine from the window swam in front of her, and Jack wasn't sure if it was from whatever contact high she had gotten off of Thane's cock, or if the pleasure was starting to drive her insane. In a moment of rationality, she considered how fucked up she was going to get from having Thane's cock in her cunt, when just sticking it in her mouth was making the room start to spin. And decided that right about now, she couldn't give a fuck less.  
  
"She moans under my touch. I let her get the feel of my cock inside her before starting to thrust," Thane muttered, the words music to Jack's ears as she felt his cock withdraw and plunge in again. Slowly at first, the alien contours of his prick hitting spots inside her that no human had ever managed. And then the pace increased, Thane's hands getting a firm grasp on her waist as he had his way with her.  
  
"Oh, fuck... fuck, yes," Jack moaned, pressing herself back into each of Thane's thrusts. "Give it to me! So fucking good..."  
  
"'Fuck me!' she moans. 'Fuck your dirty human whore!' I take her harder. My mind focused on nothing but reaching my climax inside this mewling, begging woman," Thane said, his voice starting to sound strained. "Not... much longer now. I feel... feel..."  
  
Jack's orgasm hit just as she felt Thane's cum spurting inside of her. It was a struggle to remain conscious, between the mind-blowing climax and the effects of Thane's skin working through her bloodstream, but Jack was still standing when Thane pulled his spent prick out of her.  
  
"I..." Thane blinked at her, his memory of Miranda's visit apparently completed. He hastily stuffed his deflated cock back into his pants and averted his eyes from Jack's naked body. "I am sorry. My mind was not in control of my body."  
  
"I know the feeling," Jack bitterly muttered, as she stood up straight and faced the now-lucid drell. "But don't worry about it, okay? That was fucking incredible. Just a pity the cheerleader got to that cock before I did."  
  
"The... cheerleader?" Thane asked, then realized who Jack was talking about and grimaced. "My encounter with Miranda was... a similar experience. When I smelled the flowers she brought, it was as if Delasera, the Goddess of Lust had taken control of my mind and body. I could think about nothing but taking her, doing every last perverted act I could think of with her." Staring at the floor, Thane reluctantly added. "The memory your questions summoned... it is not the only one I formed of that visit."

"The flowers," Jack said, struggling to think about what she had just learned, but finding it hard to focus through the fading but still potent narcotic effects flowing through her brain.   
  
But a hazy memory surfaced: didn't Grunt say something too about a smell? Is that how the cheerleader is getting into these aliens' minds, through some weird love potion shit? But Miranda never made Jack smell anything. Not that she could remember, at least. Shit, all these missing memories she had. Bad enough she was being forced to do shit she didn't want to, but how could she even put together the full picture of what was happening if she was missing half the damn puzzle pieces?  
  
Getting dressed, Jack saw Thane looking miserable, and actually forced a smile to her face. "Hey, seriously. This was good. Don't get too worried about you taking away my sacred honor, or something like that. I didn't do anything I didn't want to do."  
  
Thane nodded, but still looked a bit somber. "Of course."  
  
She thought about explaining what Miranda was up to, telling him that she and Shepard were going to make sure she got what was coming to her. But after a second's pause, she realized that it was a bad idea. If Miranda came back to visit Thane again, and started asking questions, he might spill the beans that they were on to her. So instead, she simply patted his hand. "Don't worry, pal. Got a feeling everything's going to get straightened out real soon."  
  
* * *  
  
Out in the hall, Jack nearly tripped over her own feet. Damn, the crazy shit she'd licked off the drell's cock was still fucking with her brain. She considered heading for the lift and getting some rest, but her eyes locked on the door at the other side of the hall and she carefully started walking toward it.  
  
If Jack had been anyone else, with a past a lot less crime-saturated, the justicar would have been the obvious choice. Little Miss Justice would have been ready and eager to go lay down the law on Miranda and her mind-raping Cerberus buddies. But still, she felt that nervousness even thinking about the asari and her rigid definition of justice. Who was to say that, after she was done putting rounds into all the Cerberus fucks, she wouldn't turn the gun on Jack and deliver retribution for all of her sins, as well?  
  
But right now, Samara was just about Jack's only option left. She'd talked to all the other aliens on the ship, pretty much, and Samara was the only one left who Miranda might not have already gotten to.  
  
Shaking her head to clear out the swimmy feeling, Jack stepped up to Samara's door and hit the button to open it.  
  
"Hey, Samara," Jack called out, as she stepped into the observation bay and the door closed behind her. Inside, the room was almost pitch black, the lights dimmed down to the absolute minimum level. In front of her, the stars streaked by outside the window, as the Normandy hit the relay jump heading to Omega.  
  
Jack glanced around the room, searching for any sign of Samara. But the darkness of the room, plus her mentally-addled state, made it difficult for Jack to make out anyone else in the room.  
  
And that was when she heard the unmistakable sound of the door locking behind her.  
  
She felt her panic start to rise, as she realized she had been trapped. What if Miranda had gotten to Samara too? And convinced her to finally make her move and take Jack down? Dammit, times like this, she hated that Shepard made them keep all their guns up in the armory.  
  
"Hello, Jack," she heard a voice behind her. As she started to turn, Samara added, "Don't move, please."  
  
Dammit, she was screwed now. Samara's command now locked Jack in place; the justicar bitch could probably tear Jack's head clean off with her biotics, and Jack wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop her.  
  
She tensed for the killing blow, but none came. Tentatively, Jack spoke up. "Hey, Samara, sorry to bug you while you were sleeping."  
  
"Oh, I wasn't sleeping," Samara said, Jack still unable to turn and look behind her to see what the justicar was doing. "I just... like it dark in here. So, what brings you to see me today?"

"Uh, just wanted to ask you something," Jack said, wishing she could turn around. She didn't like having a potential threat at her back, even if she didn't seem to be hostile at the moment. "Was wondering if you'd noticed anything weird going on lately."  
  
She heard Samara chuckling behind her, and something about it sounded strange. "Why, Jack. On a ship like this, with a crew as diverse as this, and the things we've encountered... 'weird' is sometimes hard to define. Perhaps you could be a bit more specific."  
  
"Just... wondering if you'd seen Miranda around recently. Like, if she'd come around to visit or anything like that," Jack said. She wondered for a brief second if maybe Miranda had done to Samara what she'd apparently done to the other aliens on the ship, but she quickly discarded the notion. Miranda may have been exploring her love for aliens, but Jack knew for sure (after hacking into her personal mail file) that Miranda was all about the cock.  
  
"Miranda," Samara repeated the name, her voice dreamy. Jack gasped as she felt something brush slowly up the middle of her back, the touch light and tickling. "Why so interested in Miranda, Jack?"  
  
Shit. She had been so damn stupid. Going around to all the aliens, asking about Miranda, even though she suspected that they were already under her control. One of them probably spilled the beans. She was totally screwed now.  
  
"No reason," she weakly covered. "Just wanted to make sure she wasn't fucking with you or anything."  
  
This made Samara laugh. "An interesting choice of words. But to answer your question: yes, Miranda has come to see me."  
  
She'd gotten to them all. Jack wanted nothing more to get the fuck out of here, but her body refused to move. "You gotta snap out of it, Samara," she begged the asari. "She's messing with your head, taking control of you."  
  
"Taking control of me?" Samara repeated incredulously. "Jack, you couldn't be more wrong."  
  
If Jack could have moved, she would have jumped into the air when Samara's arms wrapped around her from behind, and her hands drifted slowly up Jack's stomach towards her chest.  
  
"Miranda freed me, Jack," Samara breathed into Jack's ear, as her hands worked on unfastening the straps across Jack's chest. "All these desires, these urges I've been suppressing for centuries... she showed me how foolish I'd been to deny myself. Oh, Goddess, I'd forgotten how amazing it felt to have a beautiful woman like you defenseless in front of me. Powerless to resist as I forced her body to experience new heights of pleasure."  
  
The straps fell from Jack's chest, Samara's hands pulling them away. Jack gasped as she felt Samara grab her arms and yank them back and together.   
  
"Don't worry, Jack," she heard Samara's voice, "Tonight will be a night that you'll never forget, I promise."  
  
Jack's eyes went wide as she felt the straps that had been removed from her tits now being tied around her wrists. She struggled to summon her biotics to shove Samara away, but the lingering effects of Thane's mind trip made it impossible for her to focus.  
  
Soon the straps were tight, and Jack's arms were immobilized. Not that it mattered anyway, though, since she was still forced to stand without moving from Samara's previous command.  
  
"But... you're a justicar!" Jack shouted. "You aren't supposed to do shit like that."  
  
Samara's voice in her ear again. "Wrong again, Jack. The justicar code does not include a vow of celibacy. Which is a good thing..."  
  
Jack heard the tap of heels against the deck, as Samara stepped around her and entered her view. What Jack saw almost made her eyes bug out of her head.

Samara had discarded her ceremonial justicar armor for something a bit less formal. As in a black latex corset, cinched tight to her waist, which extended up between her bare breasts to attach to a collar around her neck. Several garter belts were fastened to the bottom of the kinky outfit, linked to a long pair of matching black latex hose. She wore no panties, and even in the dim light Jack could see that the asari was already dripping with arousal.  
  
"Because if there were such a celibacy vow," Samara said, cocking a hip and slapping the end of a riding crop into her palm, "I will have broken it several times before you've left this room."


	15. Zero Compliance (Before Omega 2)

Samara smiled wickedly, seeing Jack's wide-eyed reaction to her current outfit. "A present from Miss Chambers. I went to her after my encounter with Miranda, perhaps hoping that she would shame me into resuming my life of purity. But she told me to embrace my lusts, to indulge in my every desire." She ran her hands up her sides. "Mmm, and as you can see, I've taken her advice to heart."  
  
"Fuck," Jack thought to herself. "This bitch has been holding back the urge to fuck for hundreds of years, and now she's going to unleash all that pent-up frustration on me. This could be bad..."  
  
Pacing around the immobile Jack, Samara leaned into her back. Jack could feel the asari's large breasts and stiff nipples pressing against her. "Kelly also told me you might be stopping by, and that you were looking forward to helping me indulge in my new... appetites."  
  
"No, dammit," Jack protested. "I didn't come here to be your fucktoy, you pervy bitch!"  
  
Samara responded to the insult with a light chuckle. "Kelly said you might say something like that. That you would make a big show of resistance, but that in the end you would do anything I asked of you." Stepping back around to Jack's front, Samara made a gesture toward the door to the observation area. "But if you truly don't wish to stay, the door is right there."  
  
"But I can't leave," Jack said, frustrated, "Not unless you tell me to."  
  
The asari arched an eyebrow. "So it _is_ true. You _do_ want to be commanded."  
  
Jack wanted to shake her head, but even this small gesture was apparently not allowed under the "don't move" command. "No, I don't want to! But I don't have a choice!"  
  
"Of course you do," Samara said, grazing her fingertips lightly against Jack's bare torso. "And since you haven't left, it seems you've chosen to obey." Smiling up at Jack, Samara leaned forward to kiss her lips. Jack wanted to lean away, but she was forced to stand rigid as Samara's lips pressed tightly against hers.  
  
Pulling away, Samara breathed in deeply. "You humans are so intriguing," she said, as she stepped several paces back. With a gesture, Samara directed her biotics toward Jack. A blue glow wrapped around Jack's waist, and the belt holding up the remains of her Purgatory uniform seemed to unfasten itself on its own. Jack felt her pants slide to the floor, leaving her clad only in her plain white cotton panties and boots.   
  
"When the First Contact War ended, and your people became a part of the larger galaxy, I made it a point to learn as much as I could about Earth and its people. Your culture, your biology... and your breeding habits."  
  
Samara stepped up to Jack, her fingers seeking out the front of Jack's panties. Jack squirmed as she felt Samara trace along the line of her cleft through the thin fabric, moving slowly up to the crest and the sensitive nub at the top. "I was surprised to learn that human females are so similar to asari, biologically." Samara paused a moment, relishing Jack quivering as Samara pressed hard against her clit. "A very pleasant surprise, as it turns out. After all, it allows me to put the skills I honed as a maiden to good use."  
  
"Ohhh," Jack couldn't stop herself from moaning. Her panties were starting to get damp as Samara's expert fingers worked against the fabric. Samara paused in her stroking to ease her hand down inside Jack's underwear, Jack gasping as Samara's fingers began pressing and teasing at her moist pussy.

"There was one maiden who worked alongside me during my time as a mercenary," Samara said, putting her other hand to use at cupping one of Jack's bare breasts. "We spent so much time fighting with each other, arguing over who was tougher. Until one night, I snuck into her quarters, tied her down, and kept her on the brink for as long as I could." Samara pinched Jack's nipple, just hard enough to hurt in that nice sort of way. "In the end, I kept her on the edge of climax for twelve straight hours. The poor thing didn't argue with me much after that; she wasn't even able to walk for days afterward." Seeing the look on Jack's face, Samara laughed. "Oh, not to worry. I doubt I'll be able to match that performance again. But I'm going to enjoy making the attempt, I'm sure."  
  
"Fuuuuuuuck," Jack moaned, as Samara's biotics flared. She felt... _something_ start to force apart her pussy lips, and looked down to see Samara's hand glowing through her sopping panties. The biotic force sent little shocks through her pussy, and buzzed pleasantly against her clit. It was better than any fucking vibrator she'd ever used before, that was for damn sure.  
  
Samara exhaled in satisfaction, as she leaned forward to run her tongue up the side of Jack's neck. Meanwhile, the biotic force continued to expand inside her, filling her completely. Jack was squirming again, but this time she was trying to press the mass deeper inside herself. She could feel sweat and juices trickling down her thighs.  
  
And just as she was about to reach her climax, the force withdrew from her, and Samara stepped away. Jack shamelessly moaned in frustration, and then went quiet as she saw Samara retrieve the riding crop.  
  
"I believe we are off to a good start," Samara said. "But you are still a criminal, Jack. And I would be remiss as a justicar if I did not punish you properly."  
  
* * *  
  
Samara didn't beat her old record. But from how utterly drained Jack felt as she stepped outside of the observation deck, she must have come pretty damn close.  
  
Hours and hours had passed, with Samara using her biotics to bring Jack to the edge of climax, then switching to swatting Jack with the riding crop. Jack still felt the sting of it all across her skin, although by the end she realized she had started to enjoy the pain almost as much as the pleasure.  
  
"Was this part of Miranda's plan too?" Jack thought to herself, as she struggled to make her way to the lift. "To make me enjoy the feeling of being her personal slave?"  
  
All she knew was that, when Samara had finally pushed Jack to the point of orgasm, it had been mindblowing. She had twitched and shuddered for minutes afterward, the waves of pleasure blocking out all other senses. Shit, if it always felt this good, maybe being dominated like that wasn't all that bad after...  
  
"No," Jack muttered to herself. She needed to stay focused on Miranda and her followers right now.   
  
It had been foolish for her to expect anyone on this ship to help her. They were all compromised. She'd have to search elsewhere to get this shit taken care of. And with them heading to Omega, she knew just where to look.  
  
When she got back down to her bunk, she eased herself down carefully and pulled up the extranet on her omni-tool. It took her some time delving into the darkest recess of the net to locate the address, but before long she was in contact with exactly the type of person she was looking for.  
  
"I'LL BE ON OMEGA IN TWELVE HOURS," she typed, after some time to negotiate the price. "I'LL MEET YOU AT AFTERLIFE AND LET YOU KNOW THE TARGET THEN. IF SHE ISN'T ON THE STATION, I CAN GET YOU ONTO THE NORMANDY AND YOU CAN DO IT THERE." The guy on the other end sent back a nervous reply, and Jack groaned in frustration. "DON'T SWEAT IT. I'LL GET YOU OUT AFTERWARD. TRUST ME."  
  
He finally agreed, and Jack disconnected the conversation. Maybe Kelly was right, and Jack wouldn't be able to lift a finger to attack Miranda or any of her Cerberus underlings.  
  
But the guy she just hired sure as fuck could. Shepard might throw one of her self-righteous hissy fits afterward, but Jack didn't care. Once the cheerleader was dead, Jack had a feeling everything was going to be alright.


	16. Zero Compliance (Omega)

Markan stared down into the glass of dark blue dextro wine, and thought again about the human from earlier. The poor thing. What could have driven her to such humiliating acts?  
  
He had moved to the upper area of Afterlife, away from the commotion downstairs. Up in the VIP booth, Aria was directing orders to her security team, her face stony. Most likely discussing what had happened down below. Markan knew enough about the ruler of Omega to know that part of what kept her in power was always appearing to be in control. And something like the impromptu gangbang that had occurred downstairs was the very opposite of control.  
  
"Doubt that human will be hanging around Omega much longer," Markan mused to himself. Again, he felt that swell of pity. In some ways, the human reminded him of Victoriana. Markan doubted that the pretty young asari had planned to end up here on Omega, dancing for a bunch of drunken thugs and losers like himself. Sure, asari in their maiden phase tended to drift toward that sort of occupation, but with how Victoriana moved, and her looks, she could have been working one of those high-class joints on Illium. Instead, she was here in the asshole of the galaxy.  
  
"Just like me," Markan thought ruefully, as he took another drink. He heard the barstool next to him drag against the floor, and looked over to see a strange-looking human. She had removed that thin fringe that human females usually wore, and her body seemed to be completely covered in markings of some kind.  
  
Noticing him staring, the human woman glared back. "If you want to keep your fucking cock, turian," she snarled at him, "you better not say a damn thing to me, or tell me to do anything. You got me?"  
  
Markan hastily nodded, not sure why the human was so angry but not wanting to provoke her further. He turned to face forward again, just as someone else sat down at his other side.  
  
"Hey, Hallis," said a beautiful voice. "Gimme the usual, huh?"  
  
Markan froze in his seat. It was her. Victoriana was sitting right there, right next to him. After watching her from fifteen feet away for so long, she was right... there!   
  
His mind was a jumble of thoughts, most of them conflicting.   
  
_"Talk to her! Say you like her dancing!"_  
  
"No, she'll think you're a creep! Play it cool, act like you don't know she's a dancer!"   
  
"Play it cool? You? No way. Just wait for her to say something!"  
  
"Why would she talk to **you** by choice? Just..."  
  
"Hey, you got the local time?" the painted human woman said, drawing his attention. "Supposed to be meeting someone here."  
  
Markan turned and brought up his omni-tool. "Uh, yeah, it's 10:55."  
  
The human woman nodded, not even offering a thank you.  
  
Turning away from the angry human, Markan squared his shoulders and steeled his nerve. Now was the time. He couldn't be a coward any longer. He was going to seize this opportunity by the mandibles.  
  
"You know," he said, turning away from the human woman, "I really like your..."  
  
Victoriana was gone. In her place was a muscular batarian. "Don't think you want to finish that sentence, buddy," he growled.  
  
Markan nodded in agreement, while feeling his heart wrench in his chest. Another opportunity lost.  
  
"Hey, could you switch seats with the lady next to you?" the batarian asked him. "Got some business with her."  
  
"Oh, sure..." Markan turned to look at the human woman, only to have his jaw gape open as another woman appeared out of thin air next to her.  
  
"Hey, Jack," said the newcomer. When the painted woman, Jack must have been her name, turned, the second human wound back and slapped her in the face, the loud clap of skin against skin loud enough to be heard over the music.  
  
Jack looked furious as she clutched at her cheek. "Kasumi? The fuck?"  
  
"How could you?" the human in the dark hooded outfit, Kasumi, cried out, drawing attention from the crowd. "He was mine, dammit! He was finally mine and everything was great! And then you had to go and ruin everything!"  
  
Jack looked confused, staring at the shouting woman without comprehension. "Who the hell are you talking about? I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but..."  
  
"Jacob, you bitch!" Kasumi shrieked, her fists clenched in rage. "You've been fucking Jacob!"

"Kasumi, you're out of your goddamned mind," Jack protested. "I've barely even talked to that Cerberus drone, much less fucked him!"  
  
Tears were starting to trickle down Kasumi's face. "Of all the guys... of all the fucking guys... You're so goddamn hungry for it, you can have any other guy you want! Hell, fuck every last guy in this goddamn bar! But you stay away from Jacob, you hear me?"  
  
And before Jack could answer, Kasumi disappeared again.  
  
Not that Jack seemed to be planning to answer, anyway. Because as soon as the words "fuck every last guy in this goddamn bar" had left Kasumi's mouth, a hungry look had come to Jack's eyes. Turning to the man at her other side, a pale-skinned human nursing a beer, Jack pulled him up to his feet and began working on his belt buckle.  
  
"You gotta be kidding me," Markan thought to himself, as the human male's cock sprang free and Jack yanked down her own pants. "This can't be happening again."  
  
But the painted human had bent herself over the bar and spread her legs, and although the human male was flabbergasted, he nonetheless decided not to waste the opportunity. Gasps went out through the crowd as he started thrusting inside of the grunting human woman.  
  
Markan glanced up at the VIP section, but Aria was too busy talking with her bodyguards to notice what was happening down on the floor yet. Word was beginning to spread to the rest of the crowd, however, and while some were making their ways to the exits, others were starting to crowd around the unexpected display of public indecency.  
  
"Oh, fuck," said the human male, as he reached his climax inside Jack. As he pulled out, the human woman looked over her shoulder at the crowd. "Fuck, there's a lot of you," Markan heard her mutter. "Whichever one of you wants to fuck me next, step right up! Come on, I ain't got all night!" she yelled to the crowd.  
  
Nobody made their move at first, wondering if this was all a setup. After several seconds, Markan felt the batarian sitting next to him stand up and brush past him. Pulling out his thick green cock, he thrust it forcefully into the mewling human, Jack looking back at him with eager eyes as she thrust her hips back against him.  
  
"Doubt that was the business he was meeting her here for," Markan thought to himself. Part of him wanted to intervene in this whole thing, but after the last time, he doubted it would go well.  
  
He wanted to get up and leave, but the crowd of men that had formed around the bar was thick, and he doubted he'd be able to make his way through. So he was forced to sit at the bar and pretend nothing was going on, even as the batarian finished off inside Jack, and was replaced by a fat, bearded human.   
  
"Oh, fuck yeah," Markan heard Jack groan, the sound of her third partner's cock inside her getting sloppy from the previous two loads that had been dumped inside her. "Keep it coming. Nobody's leaving this bar until they've fucked the shit out of me!"  
  
Glancing up again, Markan saw that Aria had finally noticed the commotion on the floor. Her scowl grew even more intense, as she pointed down at the crowd gathered around the bar and barked orders to her subordinates.  
  
"Shit, this is gonna get bad," Markan thought. As the third human started grunting, his climax nearly complete, Markan realized that he had to do something. After what had happened downstairs, Aria and her men would most likely have even less patience for this new commotion. When the human stepped away, Markan acted without thinking. Standing up, he walked over to the nearly naked human and gently pulled her away from the bar.   
  
"Listen, you should probably think about leaving," he told her. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Aria's men trying to fight their way through the crowd. "Aria's not going to be too happy about this, you know."  
  
Jack gave him a dazed smile. "Can't leave yet," she said. "Still a lot of guys in this place. And speaking of which..." Jack glanced down at Markan's crotch. "Don't think I've ever had a turian before. Where do you guys hide those cocks of yours, anyway? I assume you've got cocks at least."

"Hey, whoah," Markan nervously cried out, as Jack began reaching for his belt. Grabbing her wrists, he pulled them away from his crotch and held them up at chest level. "You don't need to do that. Come on, let's get you back to..."  
  
"Get your talons off her, you filthy pervert," he heard a gruff voice behind him. Next thing he knew, he was being shoved face-first into the bar, one of Aria's henchmen landing hard punches into his side. "Don't you people have any goddamn self-control?"  
  
"No, can't leave yet!" he heard Jack crying out, her voice getting further and further away. "Still haven't fucked them all, dammit! Let me go!"  
  
After one more punch to his sore torso, Markan felt himself being dragged away from the bar and out to the entrance corridor. "Don't show your face in her again, you filthy little shit," said the turian who had beaten and dragged him. "Your Afterlife privileges are revoked."  
  
Wincing at the pain in his side, Markan felt an even worse misery: being banned from Afterlife meant he wouldn't be able to watch the dancers anymore. Which means it was likely he'd never see Victoriana again.  
  
Trudging his way out of Afterlife, Markan let out a depressed sigh. Being a nice guy on Omega sucked.


	17. Zero Compliance (The Freedom of Submission)

"Move your ass," ordered the voice in the darkness. And, like every other order, Jack obeyed.  
  
She was being led somewhere, she didn't know where. But even with the thick sack slung over her head, she knew it was somewhere she didn't want to be. Strong fingers gripped around her arms, as she was tugged forcefully towards her destination  
  
As her captors pressed her forward, she tried her best to figure out where she was by the sounds around her. She could hear the murmurs of voices around her, but they were speaking too softly for her to make out the words. Every so often, she would hear a scream in the distance, and it made her shiver. They sounded like her own screams, from so long ago.  
  
"Oh, no," she thought to herself. It couldn't be. That place was gone, blown to fucking hell. She couldn't be back there...  
  
Reaching their destination, one of the guards yanked the sack off her head. Jack gasped in horror.  
  
It was Teltin. Not the broken-down husk it had been when she had last been there with Shepard. Not the pile of melted, ruined metal it should be after they blew it up.  
  
Teltin as it was back when she was imprisoned there. Lights up and running, everything so clean and tidy. Like a hospital, but with the whole "do no harm" rule completely ignored.  
  
She was in her room, just like it was back before she escaped. Her bed, her desk... it all would look so mundane to anyone else, but to Jack it was one of the most horrifying sights she could have seen.  
  
And outside of the two-way mirror she could see morose-looking kids being herded like animals by the guards. Jack had to look down at herself to make sure that somehow, she hadn't be turned back into the child she had been when she woke up in this nightmare the first time. But it was her adult body she saw below her, albeit without a stitch of clothing on.  
  
They had brought her back, naked like an animal, to this fucking miserable place. Why?  
  
"Welcome home, Subject Zero," said a voice behind her. She turned to see _him_ enter, a trail of smoke following in his wake.  
  
"This can't be happening," she said, trying not to show the fear in her voice.  
  
The Illusive Man gave her a wan smile. "But it is, Subject Zero. You're back where you belong."  
  
"Stop calling me that," Jack yelled at him. "I'm not one of your goddamn test subjects anymore!"  
  
Tapping his cigarette, the ash drifting to the floor, the Illusive Man directed his attention to one of the guards who had brought her in. "The process has been completed?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, sir," Jack recognized the voice immediately. Miranda looked over at her disdainfully. "The subject is now completely under our command. She won't be offering any further resistance."  
  
"You traitorous fucking bitch!" Jack screamed at her. "I'll rip your fuck..." Jack prepared a powerful biotic blast, only to suddenly feel darts of pain pressing against the surface of her brain. She screamed and clutched at her scalp, dropping to her knees in agony.  
  
The Illusive Man showed no reaction to her pain. "I see that the anti-aggression measures have been activated, then."  
  
"They have, sir," said the other guard, and Jack wasn't surprised to look over and see Jacob standing there. "She won't even be able to think about harming a member of Cerberus without experiencing intense pain."  
  
Jack struggled to her feet. She could beat this. Just had to endure the pain long enough to toss their dear leader against a fucking wall. But even as the images of caving in the Illusive Man's skull were brought to mind, she cried out again, falling down to her hands and knees. It felt like someone was running a cheese grater across her brain.  
  
"Leave me alone with the subject for a moment," the Illusive Man said to his minions. "It doesn't appear that I'll need any protection around her anymore."  
  
Jacob and Miranda left, leaving Jack alone with the leader of Cerberus.  
  
"What..." Jack struggled to speak through the slowly-receding pain. "What are you going to do to me?"

The Illusive Man studied her, like a scientist would study a particularly interesting worm. He took a puff on his cigarette and exhaled deeply. "The real question, Subject Zero, is what _aren't_ we going to do to you. As I told Commander Shepard before, I had never been informed of what was being done at this facility. If I had, I would have told the scientists here that their studies were too narrow. That we could learn so much more from a unique specimen like yourself."  
  
"So what this will mean for you, Subject Zero, is more tests. Studying the limits of your endurance, your pain threshold," the Illusive Man coldly rattled off the tortures in store for her. "And, of course, just how deeply we can take control of your mind."  
  
Walking up to the prone Jack, the Illusive Man dropped his lit cigarette onto her back. Jack hissed in pain as the sting of heat on her skin. By the time she had shaken it away, the Illusive Man was at work unzipping his pants.  
  
"We have grand plans for you, Subject Zero," the Illusive Man said, as he pulled out his rigid cock. Jack didn't even need to be told what to do. Whatever further conditioning Cerberus had done to her, it told her what was expected of her. Rising up to her knees, she gripped the base of the Illusive Man's shaft and rolled her tongue around the head of his prick.  
  
It was her duty to service all members of Cerberus. No matter how much it disgusted her, she forced herself to stroke and suck at the Illusive Man's cock.  
  
Despite the lavishing of attention on his prick, the Illusive Man still stood impassively, almost seeming to have enjoyed sucking on his nicotine-stick more than having his cock sucked. "I'm glad to see that Miss Lawson's work on your mind has taken effect so completely," he mused. "We'll begin using the same techniques on the others immediately."  
  
"Others?" Jack pulled away from his cock to ask. "What others?"  
  
The Illusive Man seemed to ignore her question. "Hands and knees, please," he instructed Jack.  
  
She quickly obeyed, mindlessly presenting her ass for the head of Cerberus. Still with that detached air, the Illusive Man aimed his saliva-soaked cock at her ass.  
  
"Denying Miss Lawson's request to implant a control chip into Shepard's mind was a mistake," he said, as he gripped Jack's hips and began slowly penetrating her asshole. "I obviously can't trust Shepard and her team to follow my instructions. But we have other ways of gaining control over them all. A little more... crude than the original plan, but still effective."  
  
As Jack gritted her teeth at the Illusive Man's agonizingly slow anal intrusion, she watched as a video monitor descended from the ceiling. It flared to life, and Jack tensed as she saw what was being shown.  
  
The display rotated between several different cameras. Each one showing a scene of fucking twisted shit.  
  
Kasumi fastened into a pillory device, with a Cerberus trooper fucking her from behind, and a line of at least eight more behind him, waiting for their turns.  
  
Samara with her arms and legs encased in some sort of imprisonment machine, with a thick metal dildo whirring and buzzing between her legs.  
  
Liara, on her hands and knees, teeth gritted in pain as a varren buried its veiny purple length deep between her asscheeks.  
  
And then, Shepard herself. Naked and chained to the floor, with a squad of Cerberus troopers surrounding her, jerking their pricks. The camera held on this shot long enough to make Jack see as, one-by-one, they deposited their cum across Shepard's pained face. Before long, the once proud Commander of the Normandy was utterly covered in jizz.  
  
"Once the conditioning is complete, they'll all be quite eager to follow our commands," the Illusive Man said, his cock now plunging in and out of Jack's ass. "They'll fight for us, screw for us, do anything we command them to. And you'll get to watch as we suck out every last drop of resistance."  
  
"You... you fuck," Jack cursed at him, even as she felt her body start to react to the Illusive Man's attentions. This was part of it too, she knew. She may loathe this man, want to drive her fist into his face again and again. But from what was done to her, she would be forced to moan, writhe, and cum from his very touch.

"It shouldn't take long," the Illusive Man said. "In a matter of..."  
  
His words were cut off in surprise, as just then all of the lights in the room shut off.  
  
"What the hell?" the Illusive Man exclaimed, rising to his feet and forcing his still-erect cock back into his pants. "Ms. Lawson, report." He received no response. "Miranda, Jacob! God dammit, somebody give me an answer!"  
  
The door to the cell slid open. "How's this for an answer?" said a familiar voice, followed by the loud boom of a shotgun discharging. Without armor, the blast turned the Illusive Man's intestines into mincemeat, and he flew backwards and hit the glass of Jack's window, sliding to the floor in a bloody heap.  
  
"Stand up," she heard the voice command her, and Jack rose to her feet.  
  
She could just make out the silhouette of her rescuer in the dim emergency lights. But from the voice, she knew already.  
  
"I'm here for you, Jack," the voice assured her. As the lights came back on, Jack finally got a good look at her, looking powerful and seductive, with a shotgun smoking in her hand.  
  
Behind her, Jack saw the Illusive Man's former torture victims. Kasumi and Shepard... along with Jacob and Miranda as well. The Cerberus operatives had been stripped of their clothing, and stood rigid alongside their equally naked former captives.  
  
"They're under her command now," Jack realized, as she walked towards her extended hand. "They're her slaves."  
  
And as she took her rescuer's hand in hers, she realized one last thing. "And now I'm one, too."  
  
"Are you ready to be my slave, Jack?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, Mistress Tali," Jack responded.  
  
* * *  
  
"Yes, Mistress Tali."  
  
Jack's eyes snapped open, the transition from the dream to reality a harsh jolt. She was staring at the wall of her sleeping area. At some point during her sleep, she had curled up on her side, clutching herself in the fetal position.  
  
The nightmare... it had been more vivid than any of the other ones she'd had about Teltin. She swore that she could still smell that antiseptic smell, hear her own pained cries echoing in her cell.  
  
But it wasn't real. She was back here. But after what happened on Omega, reality wasn't working out much better than the dream.  
  
After Kasumi's stupid command got her kicked off the station, Jack had been forced to skulk back to the Normandy, without being able to make contact with her hired assassin. All of her avenues for taking out Miranda were gone now.   
  
Jack was going to have to do it on her own.  
  
Maybe Kelly was right, and Jack wouldn't be able to fire the shot once she had Miranda in her sights. But she had to try. She would storm up to the armory and grab a shotgun. If Jacob raised a fuss, he'd be the first to go, before Jack marched down to Miranda's office, put the barrel right between her thick fucking lips, and pulled the trigger.  
  
She rolled over to get out of her cot.  
  
"Hello, Jack," said Miranda, standing above her with a smile.  
  
"No, no!" Jack cried out, darting out of her cot.  
  
"Stop," Miranda ordered her, and Jack froze in her tracks. "Turn to face me, please. And keep your voice down, please. Wouldn't want to disturb anyone."  
  
Jack glared at Miranda at she turned to face her, and then her eyes were drawn downward and her breath caught in her throat.  
  
Miranda was completely naked. The stuck-up cheerleader was unashamedly strutting around the lower decks with absolutely nothing on. Jack didn't want to stare at her perfectly proportioned body, but the shock of Miranda appearing like this made it hard for Jack to focus on anything else.  
  
"You like what you see?" Miranda cocked her hip, standing in front of the motionless Jack and tossing her hair.  
  
"Not fucking really. You could use a few scars like mine," Jack snarled at her, Miranda's command keeping her voice at a low, barely audible level. "Hand me a knife and I'll get you started."  
  
Miranda gave Jack a cocky smirk. "Really? Come on, Jack. Answer me this, and tell the truth: you've wanted to see me like this for a while now, haven't you?"  
  
"Yes," Jack immediately responded.

"Mm-hmm. Truth is, ever since you first laid eyes on me, you've wanted to fuck me," Miranda said. "Isn't that true, Jack? Give me an honest answer."  
  
"Yeah," Jack admitted. "You happy, you bitch? Is that what all this has been about? Brainwashing me into admitting I'm hot for your ass, because you got sick of fucking every alien on the ship?"  
  
Miranda chuckled to herself. "No need to be so hostile, Jack. After all, tonight you're going to get your wish. Turn around, please."  
  
Jack turned away from Miranda, facing into the guts of the Normandy. She stood this way for some time, hearing Miranda leave momentarily and then return with something that was making a clanking metal sound.  
  
"Arms up, please," Miranda instructed, and Jack raised her arms to the ceiling. She felt Miranda grip her right wrist, and then the cold feel of metal against her skin. As she looked over to see the manacle Miranda had fastened to her wrist, Miranda was tossing the attached chain over a pipe in the ceiling, before locking Jack's wrist into the other restraint.  
  
"Bend over," Miranda instructed her. Jack wanted to protest, but her body moved as Miranda commanded. "Further," Miranda told her, and Jack gritted her teeth in pain, as her arms were wrenched backwards by the chain.  
  
Behind her, she could feel Miranda tugging at the waistband of her pants. "Nervous, Jack? Don't worry. You're going to love this."  
  
"You won't fucking get away with this. Even if you fuck up my brain, Shepard's on to you. She'll take you and the rest of Cerberus down," Jack struggled to sound confident, even as her pants were hitting the floor once again.  
  
But the laugh that Miranda gave to this tore away any last bit of hope Jack had. "Shepard? She's already been taken care of. The crew is already putting her under our control as we speak. But you... ooh, I wanted to handle you personally."  
  
From her perspective, bent down as low as possible with her arms nearly yanked out of their sockets, Jack could only see up to Miranda's waist as she stepped around in front of Jack.  
  
But what she saw from that perspective told her enough about what was to come.  
  
Miranda had donned a giant fucking strap-on, the black plastic cock shaped like a krogan's. Jack flashed back to the dream, the Illusive Man taking her from behind. "Oh, God, not in my ass," she moaned.  
  
Miranda reached down to gently stroke Jack's cheek, Jack wanting to turn and bite off her fingers but unable to move. "Oh, there's still that last bit of free will left. Okay, Jack. We'll do it your way. This time."  
  
"My way would be to take that strap-on off you and shove it down your throat until you choked on your own blood, bitch," Jack thought to herself, but knew there was no point in fighting. Miranda moved away from Jack's eye-line, and she soon felt the cheerleader's cool hands on her hips.  
  
"Ughhhhh," Jack winced as the massive plastic phallus penetrated her. She would have cried out, but Miranda's commands seemed to extend to even involuntary screams. So instead, she rapidly breathed in and out, trying to endure the pain of the thick fake cock stretching her open.  
  
"The process is almost finished," Miranda said, her voice filled with cheery delight. "The easy part was making you follow any command you were given. But there's still that part of you that wants to resist, to fight against us. But if my calculations are correct, that part of you should be dying out pretty soon now."  
  
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Jack grimaced as Miranda's strap-on mercilessly pummeled her insides. "What have you done to me?"  
  
Miranda leaned down against Jack's back, the pressure yanking back Jack's arms harder. As Jack's eyes watered from the pain, Miranda whispered into her ear. "Once the process is completed, Jack, you won't just follow all of our commands. It will be all that you can _ever_ do. You won't have any independent thoughts of your own. You'll be little more than a puppet, only able to act at our command."  
  
"No," Jack protested, shaking her head as Miranda continued thrusting inside of her. "No, I won't give in. I'll fight it."

"Just like you've fought all our other commands, Jack?" Miranda countered. "Just let go, Jack. Once you give in, you'll be so happy. Cerberus will take such good care of you, Jack. Just like we did before."  
  
Jack struggled to keep her mind focused. But as the minutes passed, and Miranda's fucking continued, Jack could almost feel her thoughts getting cloudy. Her body was starting to respond to the sensation of the thick krogan cock inside her.  
  
"One last step," Miranda cooed to her. "One final release of control. When I finally make you cum, the endorphin release will finish the indoctrination process. You'll be Cerberus's slave, now and forever."  
  
"Not if I have anything to say about it," said a voice from behind them both.  
  
Miranda's thrusts paused. "What the... what are you doing here? This is no concern of yours, Tali."  
  
Tali? The dream came back to Jack in a rush. Tali coming into the cell, blowing away the Illusive Man and freeing her. And then something had happened next... what the hell had it been? It was hard to remember shit like that with a giant strap-on jammed up your pussy.  
  
"You're trying to take over the minds of the crew, Miranda. I think that's definitely my concern." Jack heard footsteps as Tali walked around the two human women. Soon, she was standing in front of Jack.  
  
"Wh... why the fuck is she naked, too?" Jack thought for just a moment, craning her neck up to see that Tali was wearing nothing except her mask. Her pale skin, lined with cybernetic implants, glowed slightly in the dim light.  
  
But Jack's thoughts about Tali's state of dress were dashed aside, as Miranda resumed her thrusts into Jack. "You're too late, Tali. There's no stopping us. Jack, Shepard... the whole crew is going to be under our control. As soon as our newest slave here cums, she'll forget everything but how wonderful it feels to serve Cerberus." Leaning down again, Miranda breathed into Jack's ear. "You feel it, Jack? You feel your body start to betray you? Give in to the pleasure. You have no choice."  
  
"But she does," Tali said. "You forgot about one thing, Miranda. One little thing that's going to destroy all of your plans."  
  
Bringing her hand from behind her back, Tali pulled out...  
  
"The device!" Jack exclaimed, memories rushing back to her in a flood. Finding it on the Broker's ship, Shepard taking it away. Seeing Tali and Kasumi with it a few days later. Why had she forgotten about that before now?  
  
"You know what this is, don't you, Jack?" Tali asked her, and Jack nodded. "And so do you, right, Miranda?"  
  
"Put that thing down, you bitch," Miranda snapped at Tali. "You're meddling in matters you can't possibly comprehend!"  
  
Even as the two of them argued, Miranda continued her unceasing thrusting into Jack's damp cunt. Just as Miranda had said, Jack could feel her climax building, feeling like she was moments away from losing control completely, in more ways than one.  
  
"I can save you from them, Jack," Tali said, bending down to look her in the eye. "I can undo their control over you."  
  
"Do it, Tali," Jack said, her voice quivering. "Do it, and then we'll blow this bitch away together."  
  
Tali's glowing eyes blinked behind her mask, and Jack thought she could see a smile behind the glass. "But there's one catch. I can't completely free you from their control. But what I can do... is change who you'll end up calling your mistress."  
  
"Mistress," Jack muttered. "Mistress Tali, that was..." The end of the dream was coming back to her. The rest of the human crew of the Normandy, lined up behind Tali, her obedient slaves. And Jack taking Tali's hand, ready to become one of them.  
  
"If you just ask me, Jack," Tali said, her voice low and enticing in Jack's ear. "I'll make you _my_ slave, instead of theirs."  
  
Jack sneered. "No. I'm nobody's fucking slave. Not yours, not Cerberus's. Nobody's."  
  
"You see, Tali?" Miranda said, delivering a light slap to Jack's ass. "She's still too stubborn. Still believes she can fight this. There's no way you'll be able to convince her."

"Well, unlike you humans, I'm not going to command her to do anything," Tali said. Turning her attention back to Jack, she waved the device in front of her face. "It's your choice, Jack. And from the look on your face, it doesn't look like you've got much time left. Either I use the device on you, and you let me be your one and only mistress, or Miranda and the rest of Cerberus win, and you'll be a slave to all of their whims for the rest of your life. What's it going to be, Jack?"  
  
Jack could feel Miranda quickening her thrusts, trying her best to bring Jack to her climax as soon as possible. "Use it on her, dammit," Jack blurted out. "Why don't you just use it on Miranda instead? Stop her, Tali."  
  
"Mmm, that actually _is_ a smart idea, Jack," Tali said, cocking her neck in consideration. "But no, I don't think I'm going to do that. I gave you your two options, Jack. Stop searching for a third option that doesn't exist and choose."  
  
This wasn't right. Tali's "rescue" was looking less and less like a heroic act by the moment. But Jack couldn't hold back much longer. She could feel her toes start to curl, her breath coming faster and faster. Her orgasm was only seconds away.  
  
"You ready, Jack?" Miranda said, her tone triumphant. "You ready to be Cerberus's personal whore?" Looking up at Tali, she laughed mockingly. "You've lost, Tali. You had no hope fighting against Cerberus and the..."  
  
"Fine, I give up!" Jack cried out, her voice loud and echoing against the walls. "I'll be your slave, Tali!"  
  
And with those words, everything in the room stopped.  
  
After a few seconds of silence, Miranda withdrew the strap-on from Jack, Jack sighing as the massive rod was finally out of her. The chains above her rattled, and her wrists sprang free from the manacles. Straightening herself up, Jack blinked as she saw Miranda walk around to Tali, get down on her knees, and wrap her arms lovingly around the quarian's waist.  
  
"Oh, Mistress," Miranda said, all of the anger and fire gone from her voice, replaced by a serene ecstasy. "I'm so sorry I yelled at you. Are you mad at me, Mistress?"  
  
"Of course not, slave," Tali said, reaching down to stroke her hand through Miranda's hair. "I would never be mad at you for something I told you to do, after all."  
  
"Thank you," Miranda sighed as she leaned her cheek against Tali's bare hip. "I love you so much, Mistress."  
  
Jack stared between the two of them, struggling to compute what was happening. "You... you tricked me," she finally said.  
  
"No, Jack, you tricked yourself," Tali said, her once-friendly voice now filled with a mirthful spite. "All this time you spent believing that Cerberus was behind this all, when the real answer was right above your head the whole time."  
  
She knew she should run, she should get away from this. But she suddenly felt so weak. It was all she could manage just to remain standing. "You're going to use that thing on me, then?" she gestured limply toward the device. "Make me your slave like the cheerleader?"  
  
"Don't be silly, Jack," Tali said. "I already used the device on you weeks ago. All I needed you to do was ask to be my slave, and now that that's done..."  
  
Gently pushing Miranda away, Tali hopped up on the edge of the table in Jack's personal area. Spreading her legs, Tali brazenly displayed her damp snatch.  
  
"How would you like to come over here and eat me out, slave?" Tali asked.

It wasn't a command, Jack realized, even as she started walking toward Tali. Jack wasn't being compelled to act. But she was still walking over anyway. Still dropping to her knees and gently stroking Tali's thighs.   
  
"This isn't so bad," Jack thought to herself, as she started lapping up Tali's wetness. "She isn't forcing me to do anything, after all. All Tali is doing is _asking_ me to... no, that's not it. Mistress is giving me the _privilege_ of being allowed to eat her cunt. She doesn't have any control over me. I could say no if I wanted to. But why would I want to, when Mistress's pussy tastes so good?"  
  
"Oooh," Mistress moaned, and Jack glanced up to see that Miranda had started lovingly sucking on Mistress's nipple.  
  
"Stupid little cheerleader," Jack thought to herself, as she worked her tongue against Mistress's swollen clit. "Mistress probably had to actually brainwash her to make her realize how lucky she would be to service such a beautiful goddess."  
  
But not Jack. Jack was stronger than Miranda. She was still herself. Still free.  
  
Free to do whatever Mistress commanded.


	18. My Love is Madness (Before the Citadel)

"Damn," Jacob muttered, as he blearily opened his eyes.  Did he oversleep?  As he sat up in his bunk, he let out a loud yawn.  A sound which pretty succinctly summarized the current state of affairs on the Normandy.

He never thought he would miss the days of preparing to fly into the mouth of hell itself, survival uncertain.  But ever since they had blown the Collector base to pieces, Jacob felt like he was back on the Lazarus Project: day after day of attending to his duties, going through the motions, bored out of his mind.  Back there, he made regular visits to the firing range, just to make sure he still remembered how to shoot a gun when the time came.

But the Normandy didn't even have that particular amenity, so Jacob was reduced to cleaning a room full of weapons that weren't being used, and keeping his body in shape for some major fight, date TBD.

His bare feet hitting the floor of the crew quarters, Jacob yawned again.  Arching his back, he stretched, putting his bare, rippling abs on display.  Shit, why the hell did he hurt all over this morning?  Reminded him of the night after he'd been accepted into the Corsairs, when the rest of his new team had taken him out for drinks to celebrate.  "A clandestine party, with plausible deniability," they had joked, but there was nothing funny about how he'd felt the next morning.  Head pounding, entire body hurting like a thresher maw had chewed him up and spit him out.

This morning felt even worse, and he hadn't even been drinking last night.  Or had he?  Thinking back, Jacob tried to remember the events of the previous evening, but everything seemed fuzzy, like...

_Do you understand my instructions?_

"Yes," he muttered to himself, and then blinked.  Why had he said that all of a sudden?  "Damn, boot camp days coming back to me," he said to himself, remembering those arduous weeks of following orders without hesitation.  The Alliance drilling into the notion of compliance, of acting without thinking.  A good lesson to learn, but didn't make it a hell of a lot of fun to go through.

Strange, though, that those memories would come back to him now.  Shepard wasn't a damn thing like Corporal Barnes, his old drill instructor.  Shepard was a lot less formal about protocol and procedure... and had a hell of a lot better body, to boot.

"Bah, put it out of your mind, buddy," Jacob thought to himself, as he pulled his uniform out of his locker.  Still, it was hard not to be a little disappointed that Shepard batted for the other team.  She was definitely one of the most attractive soldiers he'd ever worked with, and he would have jumped at the opportunity if she had made a move.  But he supposed it was better this way.  Things could have gotten complicated if he and Shepard had gotten together and it hadn't worked out.  Working with one ex on a ship was bad enough.

And that got him thinking of Miranda.  Those nights on the Lazarus Research Station, when she'd come back to their cabin after a long day of working on Shepard.  While she told him all about their progress in raising the dead – using a bunch of technical terms he'd probably have to study for decades to understand – he'd peel her out of her clothes and massage the tension out of her shoulders.  It turned into a game after a while; Miranda would try to hold out as long as she could, but it would take ten minutes at the most before the two of them would be under the covers and...

Jacob shook his head to dispel the memories.  No time to dwell on these things.  He was running late this morning, and while Shepard didn't crack the whip on her crew, probably wouldn't be a good idea to start getting lax in his duties now.  Tossing on his uniform, Jacob was heading out the door just as somebody else was entering.

"Oh!  Good morning, Jacob," Gabby Daniels greeted him.  She was looking particularly cheerful this morning, and the sight of her refreshed smile made his head hurt even worse.

"Morning, Gabby," Jacob greeted her.  "Anything going on?"

Gabby shook her head.  "Nope, just came from the showers before going on duty."

Jacob nodded, but thought to himself, "Weird.  Her hair's bone dry.  Must have bought one of those extra-strength driers or something."

Out in the hallways, the Normandy was humming along as usual.  Jacob turned to the lift just in time to see Jack dart inside and close the door.  "Wonder what's got her in such a hurry," he thought to himself.  An image of the dangerous biotic came to mind, her down there in that hold by herself.  Wonder what she did with all her time alone down there.  Maybe she'd like some company or something...

There he went again.  What the hell was with him this morning?  He'd never been the type of guy who felt like he <i>had</i> to get laid on a regular basis.  Sure, he'd had his fair share of women in his time – both long-term like Miranda and the occasional one-night stand – but he'd always been the type to treat sex just like any other off-duty activity: enjoyable, but not something that preoccupied his mind all that much.

But as he rode the lift up to Deck 2, Jacob found himself mentally listing off the female crew of the Normandy, and wondering what the odds would be that one of them might be willing to spend some together with him.  Shepard and Miranda were out, of course.  Gabby could be interesting, but everybody knew that she had eyes for Ken (well, except for Ken himself.)  And Jacob doubted he'd be able to feign much interest in long discussions on the power outputs of the Normandy's engines, and how adjusting the plasma intake valves to a .852 variance would reduce energy leakage to .04%.  It'd be like talking to... to... well, it wouldn't be much fun.

Jack? No way. Jacob would be lucky to survive the encounter, even if she was into it. And even though he was quits with Cerberus, Jack seemed like the type to hold a grudge. If he made a move, chances are he'd end up being bounced like a ping-pong ball against the walls of engineering.

Kelly? Nah, too weird. He'd worked alongside the yeoman long enough that he'd almost come to see her as a younger sister of sorts. And while he wasn't the time to traffic in ship gossip, even he'd heard enough about Kelly that he didn't feel like being just another notch in her bedpost.

So his prospects weren't that great. But even as he arrived in the armory and began his daily duties, Jacob's mind was still on the ladies of the Normandy. His thoughts started mundane, wondering what certain women would like to do on a date, but became increasingly explicit as the morning went on.

Two hours into his shift, in the middle of imagining that one cute bridge ensign using her mouth on him like she was playing a harmonica, Jacob made the decision that, when they arrived at the Citadel, he needed to go hit a bar or two and check out the prospects. Just a quick fling before shipping out again, something to get his mind off whatever had come over him lately and let him focus back on his duties to the Normandy.

Trying in vain to lose himself in mundane tasks and get his mind off more vulgar activities, Jacob finally checked the time on his omnitool and decided it was time to grab a bite. After reassembling the rifle he had completely stripped and cleaned twice without realizing it, Jacob went to the lift and headed down to the mess hall.

The place was crowded, everybody a little more trusting of Gardner's meals since Shepard had picked up some new ingredients from the Citadel a while back. Gardner had even been forced to pull a few spare tables out of storage to accommodate the influx of diners.  The room was filled with lively chatter, the crew still feeling that relief of being freed from the clutches of the Collectors.  Grabbing a tray, Jacob scanned the room for a free seat.

Then his eyes locked on a free seat at one of the smaller tables. There were two chairs across from each other, and one was currently unoccupied. Moving quickly before anyone else could claim it, Jacob dropped down in the chair. "Busier than usual, huh?" he said to the other table's occupant.

"Oh, uh... yeah, guess so," said Kasumi, her eyes hidden underneath her hood. "I can take my food back to the lounge, though, if you'd rather be by yourself."

"No, that's okay," Jacob said to the mysterious thief. "I wouldn't mind the company, actually."

Funny, Jacob thought to himself. All morning he had been dating, fondling, and ravaging all the ladies of the Normandy in his head, and somehow Miss Goto had never sprung to mind. He supposed he didn't really spend that much time around her: Shepard had never paired them for any missions, and she tended to keep to herself in the lounge when she wasn't out fighting with the Commander. But as he enjoyed Gardner's latest exotic concoction, he found himself sneaking glances at his dining companion between bites.

She was staring down intently at her plate, taking nervous bites of her salad and refusing to look up, so it was hard for him to get a good look at her face. But from what he could see, she was definitely attractive. Weird that he'd never really thought of her in that way before. Now, though, suddenly it was all he could think about.

"So, any big scores in mind for when we touch down at the Citadel?" he asked her, trying to get her attention up to his face so he could get a better look.

"Scores?" Kasumi nervously repeated, her attention snapping up to Jacob. He was surprised to notice that she was actually blushing. "What do you mean?"

"Any big heists, I mean," Jacob said with a laugh. "I imagine this ship must be getting pretty boring for you by now. Probably itching to get back out there and take down some big targets, huh?"

Kasumi fidgeted, hiding her deep blue eyes again by looking back down at her meal. "Not really. I mean... uh... you think I should leave? I mean, if that's what you..."

Shaking his head and chuckling, Jacob raised a hand to cut her off. Damn, all these years, and he still sucked at talking to women. "I didn't mean it like that. Just saying that I've read your file. I know all about the jobs you've pulled off. Even some of the stuff they didn't catch you for, Cerberus knew about. After all those years of high-risk thefts, pulling off jobs that shouldn't have even been possible? Gotta imagine that spending all this time just sitting on a ship staring out the windows has to be a bit dull for somebody who's done the sort of stuff you have."

"I dunno," Kasumi said, and Jacob was glad to see her loosen up a little, a touch of a smile coming to her lips. "Considering all the crazy stuff Shep found out about those Reapers, I kinda want to hang onto 'dull' for as long as possible. Get the feeling that we'll be missing it before we know it."

"I hear that," Jacob agreed. "But forget about the Reapers. Back to my question: you doing anything when we get to the Citadel?"

"Sitting on a ship, staring out the windows," Kasumi said with a shrug.

"Ah, come on," Jacob admonished her. "Weeks spent crammed up in this ship, how can you not want to get out of here for a bit?"

Kasumi wryly smirked. "Well, you said something earlier about "the stuff they didn't catch me for'? That doesn't mean they aren't still looking, you know."

"Seriously? C-Sec knows who we are by now, and they know we're working for Shepard. Don't think we need to worry about the law getting up in our business." He gave her a grin. "Hell, I could probably strip down and run naked through the Presidium, and they wouldn't dare touch me."

"I would."

Jacob arched his eyebrows. "Would what?"

Kasumi's eyes went wide, and her blush grew deeper. "What I meant was, uh, I would go somewhere while we're on shore leave, but I've only been to the Citadel a few times. I wouldn't know the first thing about where I'd want to go."

"Well, hey, that's no problem," Jacob said. "I know this place on the Citadel. Serves up a steak to absolutely die for." Looking down at the salad in front of her, he quickly asked. "You do eat meat, right?"

Kasumi hesitated a moment. "Uh... yeah. Yeah, of course I do," she finally answered, nervously playing with her fork and staring at him nervously from under her hood.

Just as he was about to make the proposal, Jacob felt like someone was watching him. Glancing over, he saw Miranda walking past, staring at the two of them as she went. For a second, Jacob felt a bit ashamed. Sure, he and Miranda were done, but was it insensitive of him to be making eyes at another woman while she was working beside him?

But then he saw Miranda smile, a genuine one that told him all he needed to know. He nodded back in gratitude, and she turned to walk away without a word.

"So, Miss Goto, what do you say?" Jacob turned back to ask Kasumi. "Would you allow me to be your escort when we arrive on the Citadel?"

Kasumi smiled back at him. And just kept smiling.

"Kasumi?" Jacob said, trying to get her attention after thirty seconds without an answer.

"Oh, sorry," Kasumi blinked. "I just... I wanted to take a second to... I mean yes. I'd love to."

"It'll be fun, I promise," Jacob said. Grabbing his fork, he started back in on his meal. After a few bites, he looked up to see that Kasumi was still staring at him. He gave her a questioning look.

"I just, um... I feel kinda stupid for asking this, but... is this just a friendly sort of thing?" Kasumi said. "Like, two comrades hanging out together? Or is this... like... a date?" Seeing Jacob's expression, Kasumi quickly added. "I mean, I don't really care either way, I still want to go. I just ask because I want to know what to wear, is all."

Seeing Kasumi's hand shaking slightly, Jacob grabbed it in his, and then brought the back of it up to his lips. "Tell you what," he said, kissing the smooth leather of her glove. "You dress however you want, and we'll see where things go from there."

"Okay!" Kasumi said, and suddenly bolted up from her seat. "I gotta go. Get dressed, that is." She said, looking extremely flustered.

Jacob gave her a confused look. "But we're still twenty hours from the Citadel."

"Well, it takes me a while to get dressed.  I, um..." Kasumi struggled for words. Finally, she just said, "I'll see you when we get there!" and dashed away, knocking over several crewmen on her way out.

Smiling to himself, Jacob continued eating his lunch. "Sometimes, buddy, you've just got it," he thought to himself.


	19. My Love is Madness (The Citadel)

"This is a really nice place," Kasumi enthused, as the concierge pulled out her chair to allow her to sit. She bent carefully, obviously uncomfortable in the tight red dress she had chosen for that evening. Once seated, she drank in all the ambiance of the ritzy Presidium restaurant: the rich red carpeting, the crystal chandeliers, and the violin players currently filling the dining area with a beautiful piece.  
  
"Glad you like it," Jacob said, taking the chance to finally get a good look at the mysterious master thief. She wasn't as beautiful as Miranda, but that was a bit of an unfair contest considering how his last lover was "born." With her face no longer hidden under a hood, and her long dark tresses held up in a bun with jade-decorated hairsticks, Jacob certainly had no complaints about the lovely lady he finally got to see in the full light.  
  
Kasumi caught him looking, and a light flush came to her face as she glanced down at the menu. "Glad I was able to borrow this from Kelly," she said, as she ran a hand down the shimmering fabric of her gown. "Although... makes me think I probably should have asked her for a dress back when me and Shepard were taking down Hock. Can't believe I actually thought I was going to make it into that party with what I usually wear."  
  
"Probably for the best," Jacob said, looking his date over with a smile. "If you'd gone into Hock's place looking like that, stealth would have been out of the question. Every eye in the place would have been on you immediately."  
  
She blushed even more, almost red enough to match her dress. "Thanks. It's been a long time since I've gotten all dressed up like this," Kasumi said. "Back when I first got started, I couldn't afford a cloaking unit. So I used to have to gather information on a target the old-fashioned way." Kasumi laughed softly. "I still remember my first mansion job. I was Janet Uro-Nagamushi, wealthy socialite and art expert. Spent over an hour discussing the finer points of hanar luminescent paintings with the host, all the while casing the place."  
  
"Hanar art, huh?" Jacob said. "Can't say I have much experience with that topic."  
  
Kasumi grinned. "Neither did I. But I just kept making up names of artists and paintings, and the guy just couldn't get enough of my 'obscure knowledge on the subject.'" Deciding on her order, Kasumi laid down her menu. "Almost felt bad for him. If he was hoping to fill some of the empty spaces I ended up leaving on his walls after I was done, I hope he didn't go looking for any of the..." Clearing her throat, Kasumi put on an overblown posh accent. "'Exquisite works by Melander and Klasentol, two of the most exciting and innovative artists in the field today.'"  
  
"You're a woman of many talents, Miss Goto," Jacob said admiringly.  
  
"I'm glad you think so," Kasumi said, and with a crooked smile suggestively added, "But then, you haven't seen _all_ of them yet."  
  
Jacob was damn eager to follow up on that train of thought, but then the waiter arrived and the moment was gone. The two of them placed their orders, Kasumi ordering some obscure oriental dish, and Jacob a rare steak.   
  
As soon as the waiter was gone, Jacob turned his attention back to his dining companion. "So tell me, how does a nice girl like you end up in the grand larceny business?" he asked. "I mean, forgive me for putting it like this, but you don't seem like the type."

"And that's how I made it as far as I did," Kasumi said. "By not seeming the type. But to answer your question, it started out as a necessity. I grew up in the slums of Tokyo back on Earth, me and my family just barely scraping together enough to survive. I started out just picking pockets and petty stuff like that to help put food on the table. My parents never asked where the money came from, and I didn't tell them. Then one day, I happened to find somebody's old, discarded omni-tool, and it was like... did you ever have that moment when you realized exactly what you wanted to do with your life?"  
  
Jacob nodded. "I was thirteen. Saw the news reports about the attack on Mindoir. All those people murdered, sold into slavery... I spent the next five years just waiting for the chance to sign up with the Alliance."  
  
"Well, I was the same way once I found that omni-tool. For weeks I played with that old piece of junk, until I knew it inside and out. By the time I was finished, I was using it to hack into banking accounts. I didn't get greedy, just took enough for my family to survive, and to make sure nobody noticed the few credits that were missing. But once I was old enough to leave home, I started dreaming bigger. And bigger dreams require more credits and better tech. So I stepped up my game a bit."  
  
"More than a bit, considering your reputation," Jacob said. "Quite a story. From a poor kid in the slums to one of the best thieves in the galaxy."  
  
They chatted over various things for the next hour, the bottle of wine that Jacob ordered dispelling much of Kasumi's shyness. Her demure blushes and awkward pauses quickly turned into sly innuendos and the brush of her foot against his leg under the table. By the time dessert had arrived, Kasumi had her hand on top of his on the tablecloth.  
  
"So what's it like?" Jacob asked, as Kasumi placed a slice of pie between her lips and sucked it off her fork. "Breaking into someone's house and having free reign to take whatever you want?"  
  
"Like you don't already know, Jacob," Kasumi said, licking a dollop of whipped cream off her upper lip. "Don't tell me in all that time with the Alliance and Cerberus, you've never had to do any cloak and dagger work."  
  
Jacob shrugged. "That's different, though. Usually I'm there to grab some intel or plant a listening device. And if things went to shit, I'd have some backup to call. But you, all by yourself... can't imagine what that must be like."  
  
Kasumi didn't answer at first, staring down at the table and considering. After a while, she started quickly gobbling up the last few bites of her dessert. "Pay the bill and let's go," she said after swallowing the last of it.  
  
"Where are we going?" Jacob said, as he called over the waiter.  
  
"I'm going to give you a crash course in the art of breaking and entering, Jacob," Kasumi said, a devious smile coming to her face.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this," Jacob said, as Kasumi tapped at her omni-tool. "This is so wrong."  
  
"Of course it's wrong," Kasumi said, looking back at Jacob with a devious grin. "That's what makes it more fun. You're keeping an eye out for any C-Sec, right?"  
  
Jacob glanced over his shoulder. After finishing their meal, Kasumi had taken him by the hand and dragged him into one of the residential areas of the Presidium. The private residence they were breaking into was probably one of the largest on the Citadel.  
  
"You're sure there's nobody home?" Jacob said, as he kept an eye out for anyone watching.  
  
"I tapped into Victor Castellini's private messages," Kasumi assured him. "He's staying at his third house on Earth for the next four months." Pausing for a moment, Kasumi furrowed her brow. "Or was it his fourth home on Earth for the next three months? Eh, either way, we're in the clear."  
  
"Still, he's bound to have alarms," Jacob cautioned her.  
  
Kasumi gave him a look with narrowed eyes. "Please, Jacob. You're not on a date with an amateur, here. I can disable any alarms he has in my sleep. And like you said: if we get caught, Shepard can bail us out of any trouble."  
  
"Still, I'd hate to have to explain to her why she has to get us out of jail," Jacob muttered.

"Well, if you'd rather try that whole 'running naked through the Presidium' thing you were talking about on the Normandy," Kasumi said, and then glanced downward. "I could help you get ready."  
  
Before Jacob could answer, the door to the estate slid open.   
  
"Excellent," Kasumi enthused. "Now, let me take you through a job like this."  
  
She led him into the foyer, a large room with dual curved staircases and a roaring (virtual) fireplace. Jacob expected any moment for alarms to start blaring, but there was no sound except for Kasumi's heels hitting the marble floors as she strolled casually around the room.  
  
Kasumi pointed to a large Ming vase. "See that? Lots of beginners like to grab the first thing they see when they get inside. But that's for suckers. Most of the stuff you see by the front door is there to be flashy and impress visitors. It's probably worth something, but it's never the most valuable stuff in the place."  
  
She started further into the house, but paused when she noticed Jacob wasn't following. Moving to his side, she wrapped her arm around his and led him into the house. "Don't wimp out on me now, Jacob," she teased him. "We've only just gotten started."  
  
Directing him down a hallway, Kasumi gestured at several pieces of art on the walls. "Paintings seem like a good idea at first, but unless they're your specific target, they tend to be more trouble than they're worth. First you have to get them out of the frame quickly and without causing too much damage. You have to bring along something to transport them in so they don't get ruined. And even after all that, they're nearly impossible to sell without drawing attention to yourself. A big waste of time, if you ask me."  
  
As they walked, and Kasumi lectured on the finer points of theft, Jacob turned his attention through a set of glass doors. What he saw there stopped him dead in his tracks.  
  
"Holy shit," he muttered.

Kasumi had been mid-lecture on the finer points of looking for personal safes when she heard Jacob's declaration and turned back. Following his gaze, she whistled between her teeth. "Ooh, that's nice."  
  
Jacob pushed through the glass doors, and the two of them stepped into the dim room. It was massive, almost the size of the Normandy's shuttle bay. But it needed to be, in order to house the large indoor swimming pool set into the floor. The multicolored neon lights of the Presidium, streaming in through the large windows on the other side of the room, reflected beautifully off the surface of the water.  
  
"Been years since I've seen a pool like this," Jacob said, his voice echoing against the walls of the large room. "And even the pool on the Arcturian Jade wasn't nearly as big as this one."  
  
"Yeah, looks pretty refreshing," Kasumi said. Moving cautiously in her form-fitting dress, she tossed off one of her shoes and dipped her toes into the rippling water. "Oooh, and he keeps it heated, too. Feels amazing." Glancing over at him, she cocked an eyebrow. "Wanna get wet, Jacob?"  
  
Jacob laughed. "Yeah, right," he started to turn back to the glass doors leading into the main house. "Anyway, what were you saying about cracking safes? That might actually be something I could use when..."  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft impact of something against his back. Jacob turned around to see a pile of shimmering red fabric pooled at his feet.  
  
"Kasumi, what are you..." he looked up, and the question choked off in his throat. Kasumi was standing at the edge of the pool, wearing nothing but a black frilly bra and matching boyshorts. She had her back to him, and he watched as she reached up to pull out the sticks holding her hair in place. As the twin rods clattered lightly to the floor, Kasumi let her dark tresses tumble down to brush against her shoulders. Glancing over her shoulder, Kasumi gave him a crooked smile before leaping forward into a perfect dive, the half-naked thief barely making a splash as she entered the water.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me," Jacob said as he walked over to the side of the pool. "I thought this was going to be a quick lesson on home invasion. Now we're going for a swim?"  
  
Kasumi grinned up at him from the water. "Well, right now, it's just _me_ going for a swim. But you're free to join me if you want."  
  
This was nuts. As Jacob watched Kasumi languidly float in the water, he thought about his eighteen-year-old self. So eager to prove himself, ready to be a force of justice to the galaxy. He could only imagine what that naïve teenager would think of where he was now: part of a human-centric terrorist organization, out on a date with a known criminal, and now watching her swimming around in a stranger's pool.  
  
But goddamn, did she look amazing. Miranda had been perfect, yes. But looking at Kasumi now, Jacob couldn’t help but think that maybe a few imperfections were a good thing. Kasumi had a few moles here and there on her skin, a few light lines and patches that matched up to wounds suffered in battle and hastily patched with medigel. But those little marks just made everything else seem all the more beautiful. All the more desirable.  
  
"Hey!" Kasumi called out, breaking Jacob out of his momentary trance. "You keep staring like that, I'm going to charge admission. Least you could do if you're going to eye me up..." she ran her eyes up and down Jacob's body. "...is let me have a peek, too."  
  
"Can't believe I'm doing this," Jacob said, reaching up to start unbuttoning his suit.   
  
"Don't be too self-conscious, now," Kasumi said. "Not like I haven't seen it all before."  
  
"What's that supposed..." Jacob started to say, his hands pausing between buttons.  
  
Kasumi clucked her tongue. "Less talky, more strippy, please."

He tried to act nonchalant, but he could feel Kasumi's eyes on him as he threw off his shirt and exposed his ripping torso. He turned his back so that she wouldn't see the grin on his face as he unbelted his pants, giving his date a nice show as he slowly lowered his slacks. Turning around in just his boxer briefs, he saw Kasumi's eyes immediately drift down to his beltline, and immediately wished he hadn't spent so much time watching her swimming. Quick as he could, he lowered himself down into the rippling pool.   
  
"Oh, man, that's nice!" he exclaimed, the warm water feeling amazing against his skin. Looking at Kasumi, he gave her a smirk. "So, this something you ever done on a heist before?"  
  
"Just once," Kasumi said. "And that was a long time ago, and me and Keiji were... uh, hey, race you to the shallow end?" Kasumi quickly covered.  
  
"You kidding? I'll..." Jacob started to say, before Kasumi was already kicking away and paddling toward the other end of the pool. "Hey, jumping the gun!" he called out with a laugh, before quickly breast-stroking after her. While Kasumi was a competent swimmer, she didn't stand a chance against an Alliance boot camp survivor like Jacob, and he reached the other side a full three seconds before the lithe Japanese thief.  
  
Kasumi grinned as she leaned against the pool wall beside Jacob, breathing hard from the exertion. "Glad to see those muscles are good for something besides looking at," she said. "Want to give me a head-start this time?"  
  
He started at her, glistening with moisture and gasping for air, and immediately he was brought back to that day when he'd asked her out on this date. Waking up that morning with that feeling of wanting, needing a woman. Before now, he'd been willing to let Kasumi set the pace, slow and flirty. But he'd had enough of that. He was a man who knew what he wanted, and right now all he wanted was this woman.  
  
"Think I've had enough competition for one night," Jacob said, his voice low and throaty. "Think I'm ready to take a look at my... what's the word... winnings." Moving away from the wall, his feet hit the bottom of the pool, and he walked to position himself in front of Kasumi. She watched him anxiously, most likely knowing what was coming next.  
  
Gripping a hand on the edge of the pool wall to either side of the lovely thief, Jacob leaned in. She returned the kiss hesitantly at first, but soon he felt her tongue entwining with his, one of her hands reaching up to grip the back of his neck and press him closer. He could hear her moaning as the kiss continued, and he moved in closer. Her body was warm against his, even in the heat of the churning waters.  
  
She broke the kiss long enough to moan, "Jacob." Her voice was low and a little nervous, but she didn't resist as he moved in again. As he kissed her again, he pulled a hand away from the side of the pool to cup one of Kasumi's lace-covered breasts. He could feel the stiff peak of her nipple pressing against the damp fabric of her bra, and he used his thumb to rub against the fleshy nub. Kasumi gasped, and Jacob felt the fingers around his neck grip tighter.  
  
Jacob got an idea. Something he had done to Miranda back when she had joined him on the Arcturian Jade, and they had found themselves alone in the swimming area. Slowly he let his hand drift away from Kasumi's breasts and trail down her body. Once it reached her waist, he put his other hand in position on her other side.  
  
"Jacob, what are you... Jacob!" Kasumi let out a surprised squeal as he lifted her up out of the water, almost effortlessly. Carefully, he placed her in a sitting position on the edge of the pool, her hips dangling just on the lip, and the juncture of her legs even with Jacob's face.  
  
Looking down, Kasumi must have understood what Jacob intended to happen next, but when he reached to part her thighs, he felt resistance. "Jacob, wait," Kasumi whispered, that nervous tremor still in her voice. "Maybe we should be getting out of here. Some of the alarms in here might..."  
  
"Well, look who's nervous about alarms now?" Jacob said, with just a bit of mockery in his tone. "Thought you said that we didn't have anything to worry about?"

Kasumi nervously fidgeted, but Jacob could see her legs start to part, just a little. "I know, and we don't. But I just... I'm not sure that..."  
  
"Kasumi, if you want me to stop, just tell me," Jacob said. Part of him, though, wondered what would happen if she told him "no." The way he was feeling right now, the unbearable aching sensation in his groin, he wasn't entirely sure what he would do if she put the brakes on now.  
  
Thankfully, he saw the fear on her face start to melt away. "I... no," Kasumi breathed out, and she parted her legs the rest of the way. "No, don't stop."  
  
Moving in with his hand, Jacob tugged aside the crotch of Kasumi's panties, exposing her naked slit. The low moan that the thief let out as his tongue went to work on her was a clear an indication as any that any doubts Kasumi was feeling about the direction of the evening were long gone.  
  
The taste brought him back to that night with Miranda. That unique flavor of female arousal, mixed with the chemicals in the water, was something he would never forget. He let his tongue drift languidly up and down the folds of Kasumi's sex, moving teasingly close to the sensitive nub at the apex of her pussy, only to move away again.  
  
His oral taunting had the desired effect, Kasumi squirming at the edge of the pool, breath coming in short, frustrated gasps. "Jacob, please," she moaned, wiggling to try and put her clit against his tongue.  
  
"'Please,' what?" he stopped licking long enough to ask her. "What do you want me to do, Kasumi?" He began licking at her folds again, the taste of her juices now overpowering the chlorine flavor.  
  
"I want... want you to..." Kasumi stammered, and Jacob felt his cock pressing painfully against the fabric of his underwear. It wasn't enough that he was going to have this woman tonight. He wanted her to beg him for it. Wanted her to surrender to the pleasure he was giving her and offer herself to him as his hard-won prize.  
  
She was _his_ , and before the night was over, he was going to show her.  
  
"I want you to suck my c..."  
  
"CITADEL SECURITY!" the booming voice proclaimed, and Kasumi's pussy fell away from Jacob's mouth as she tumbled backward in surprise. "DROP ANY WEAPONS YOU MAY HAVE AND STEP OUT OF THE BUILDING WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"  
  
"Shit!" Jacob said, hauling himself out of the pool. "Thought you said you handled all of the alarms?"  
  
"Well, I might have put one in 'sleep' mode instead of disabling it," Kasumi said, jumping to her feet. "Didn't think we'd be in here this long."  
  
Jacob started to move toward their piled clothing, but the sound of approaching footsteps from the hallway made Kasumi grab him by the arm. "Come on!" she pointed to the side of the room. "There's a back exit over there, we can slip out!"  
  
"But our..."  
  
"No time to argue!" she called out, dragging him to the door and out into the Presidium. Spotting C-Sec officers in one direction, Kasumi took Jacob by the hand and started running with him the opposite way. The high-class Citadel citizens gawked at the soaked, half-naked humans charging through them towards the docking bay.  
  
As they ran, Jacob heard Kasumi start laughing. "You think this is funny?" he called out to her.  
  
"Well, a little," Kasumi said, as she glanced back at him. "May not have quite gotten you naked, but the running through the Presidium part... nailed it!"


	20. My Love is Madness (Before Illium)

Kelly looked up with a warm grin as he entered. "Right on time," she said, gesturing him towards the seat opposite her desk. "It's nice to see you in my office, Jacob. I imagine that with all that's happened in the last few months, you've probably been needing someone to talk to."  
  
Jacob made an effort not to laugh at this remark. Having someone to talk to was the least of his worries these days. "So, how's this gonna work? You got questions for me to answer?" he asked.  
  
Kelly tittered a little. "Oh, Jacob. This isn't an Alliance psych evaluation. I keep things informal around here. We can talk about whatever you want." She pressed a few buttons on the vidscreen at her desk, and it went dark. "I won't even tape this, if you'd like. Everything completely off the record and confidential. So, what did you want to talk about today? Something about what happened with you and your fath..."  
  
"No," Jacob quickly said, cutting off the topic adamantly. Seeing Kelly taken aback, he made an effect to smile. "That's all in the past, okay? Wasn't why I asked to see you today."  
  
"Fair enough. So, what's bothering you, Jacob? Everything going alright with you and Kasumi?"  
  
Jacob blinked. "Who told you about that?"  
  
"Kasumi did," Kelly said. "Oh, don't worry. She didn't tell me directly. But even if word hadn't gotten around about you and her returning to the ship without your clothes... and without the dress I loaned her, it's the way she's been acting lately. She used to keep to herself in the lounge, never come out except to grab some food. But ever since the Citadel, she's been hanging out with the crew more. Laughing, smiling... it wouldn't take a psychologist to see her the way she is now and know that she's falling in love."  
  
"Yeah, she's been great to hang out with," Jacob said.  
  
Kelly furrowed her brow. "I'm hearing a 'but' in that tone of voice, Jacob. Are you not enjoying spending time with her?"  
  
"I am, I really am. It's just..." Jacob hesitated, knowing that what he was about to say was going to sound terrible.  
  
"Off the record, Jacob. Nothing leaves this room, I promise."  
  
Jacob tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. "It's just that... that first date on the Citadel, things were getting heavy, you know? If we hadn't gotten interrupted by... well, if things had kept going the way they were going, we would have definitely gone all the way. But after we got back to the Normandy, all of a sudden she said she wanted to put the brakes on. That we should get to know each other before taking the relationship to that level."  
  
Kelly nodded in understanding. "And now you're ready to go to that level, but she isn't."  
  
"That's the thing, though. Normally I'd be fine with that. I'm not the type of guy to push a girl if she's not ready. But lately, it's been... I'm having a hard time being around her without feeling this urge to... to take her. If you could have seen the way she was back on the Citadel, Kelly. She _wanted_ it, I know she did. And the more I'm around her, the more I'm worried that I won't be able to control myself." Jacob shook his head. "I can't remember ever wanting a woman as much as I've wanted Kasumi."  
  
Placing a finger to the corner of her mouth, Kelly thought for a moment. "If it's not prying too much, I don't suppose you've tried other ways to... relieve that tension."  
  
Jacob responded with a rueful laugh. "As much as I can on a ship with shared sleeping quarters. But it doesn't help. No matter what I do, all I can think about is Kasumi. Finding her in the lounge or just tearing her clothes off in the middle of a hallway and having my way with her." Jacob pressed a hand to his forehead. "I mean, I want to be the good guy, here, Kelly. But I just don't how much longer I can take this before I snap."  
  
"I know exactly what you mean," Kelly said, her voice warm and understanding. "And I might just have the perfect solution for you, Jacob."  
  
"That easy?" Jacob scoffed. "Don't tell me you're going to dope me up or hypnotize me or something."  
  
Kelly shook her head. "No, I've got another method in mind. But before we start, I need you to do one thing."

"What's that?" Jacob asked.  
  
"I need you to trust me. This isn't going to work unless you have absolute faith in my methods."  
  
Jacob cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Of course I trust you, Kelly. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."  
  
Kelly stood up from her desk. "Come over here," she directed him to the side of her office. "Stand right there, and close your eyes."  
  
He stared at her blankly. "This how you normally do therapy, Kelly?"  
  
"I thought you said that you trusted me, Jacob," Kelly responded.  
  
"Fine, okay," Jacob said, closing his eyes. "Just don't tell me I'm going to be falling backwards into your arms or something like that."  
  
"Mmm, I wouldn't say that," Kelly said somewhere in the darkness. "Just keep your eyes closed until I say."  
  
Jacob felt absolutely silly, standing here with his eyes shut while Kelly was doing... what was she doing? He couldn't hear much of anything except the low hum of the Normandy's engines. He was starting to think that this was a waste of time, and was about to open his eyes and make an excuse to leave when he finally heard Kelly's voice.  
  
"Alright, you can open your eyes now," she said.  
  
And when Jacob did, he nearly tumbled to the floor in surprise.  
  
"Kelly, what the hell?" he exclaimed.  
  
Kelly stood with one hip cocked in front of him, a seductive smile on her face. She had discarded her Cerberus uniform, and was wearing nothing but lacy white panties. "It's a simple solution, Jacob," she said, showing no modesty as she put herself brazenly on display. "You want to be a nice guy with Kasumi, but you're still a man. A man with urges that need to be satisfied." She took a few steps toward him, putting a light bounce in her step to make her modest breasts jiggle as she walked. "So why don't you satisfy your urges with me, Jacob?"  
  
"Jesus, Kelly," Jacob said, trying his best to keep his eyes focused on Kelly's face, and not on her bare breasts... her luscious hips... and that Eclipse tattoo peeking out from underneath her panties? Why would Kelly have a...   
  
Jacob didn't have time to consider it further, as Kelly was now standing mere inches away from him.  
  
"Come on, Jacob," Kelly cooed, all the platonic friendliness in her voice now replaced with unbridled lust. "I'll do anything you want me to. You can do everything to me you ever dreamed about doing to Kasumi, and still be the nice guy to her that you want to be."  
  
Jacob tried his best to ignore the painful sensation of his erection pressing against the inside of his pants. "That's gonna be a problem, Kelly," Jacob said. "See, a nice guy wouldn't exactly go around screwing other women behind his girlfriend's back, you know?"  
  
"Oh, Jacob," Kelly said, as she placed two fingers against his chest and lightly traced them down his body. "Didn't I say to trust me? Everything in this office is in the strictest of confidences. I won't tell Kasumi if you won't. And if neither of us says a word, it'll be like it never happened," Kelly's hand had reached down below Jacob's belt, and her fingers now lightly cupped the growing bulge in his pants. "Come on, Jacob. You don't need to be the nice guy in this office. You can be whoever you want to be. Do whatever you want to do. And no one will ever know, I promise."  
  
" _I'll_ know, Kelly. That's the problem," Jacob said. "I can't do that to Kasumi. As much I might want to, I'm not that type of guy."  
  
Kelly let out a long sigh. "Well, okay, then," she said, her hand drifting away from his groin. "Go ahead and leave, if that's what you want. I'm sorry to tempt you like this."  
  
"It's okay, Kelly. I don't..." Jacob was about to take a step toward the door, when the world seemed to suddenly fade away.  
  
Out of nowhere, he was seeing one of his many fantasies about Kasumi. Forcing her against the wall and taking her. Struggling at first, but soon her cries of protest turning into moans of pleasure.  
  
Only it wasn't Kasumi in the fantasy anymore. Now it was Kelly, the friendly psychologist reduced to a mewling animal by the force of his thrusts.

"I can't be thinking of actually doing this," Jacob thought to himself, but any notions of resistance were being drowned out by Kelly's imaginary cries of ecstasy. As the vision faded, and Jacob's eyes refocused on the real Kelly staring at him quizzically, he knew that he was powerless to do anything else.  
  
Kelly must have seen it in his expression, and she smiled as he started moving toward her. She let out a surprised yelp as he grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her into a savage kiss. She pressed her warm, naked body against his, and her hand sought out his erection once again.  
  
He pulled away long enough to tell her. "Sit on the edge of the desk."  
  
She complied without a word of protest. He took a moment to stare at her, sitting and waiting in anticipation for what he would tell her to do next. Damn, she was sexy. Was it only a week or so ago he was thinking that she seemed like a younger sister to him? Now, seeing her this way, skin flushed with arousal and her fluids starting to dampen her panties, any doubts he had of seeing Kelly as a sexual object were long gone.  
  
"Spread your legs," he told her, and Kelly was quick to obey. Crouching down between her thighs, he tugged aside the crotch of her panties, exposing Kelly's wet and throbbing pussy. Jacob thought back to that night on the Citadel, Kasumi in a position similar to this. She had been so eager, so ready to give her body to him. But now she was hesitating, making him squirm, teasing him. She probably knew exactly what torture she was putting him through. It was her fault he was being driven to this. Her fault for making him wait.  
  
"Please," Jacob was taken out of his thoughts by Kelly's moaning above him. "Please, Jacob. Suck my clit, Jacob!"  
  
God, it was like music to his ears, hearing her moan his name, begging for his touch. He ran his tongue from the bottom of Kelly's slit, all the way up to the very top and the sensitive nub throbbing there. Kelly unabashedly moaned and squealed as Jacob worked his magic on her clit, closing his lips around it and sucking as his tongue worked around and around. Reaching up, he slowly inserted his index and middle finger inside of Kelly's pussy, working them around inside her walls while he continued to pleasure her with his mouth.  
  
"Jacob, yes," Kelly cried out. Her hips ground and wriggled against his busy tongue and probing fingers. Jacob glanced from between her legs to see her cupping her breasts and pinching at her stiff nipples. She seemed to be going out of her mind with ecstasy.  
  
"See what you're missing out on, Kasumi?" Jacob thought to herself, as Kelly shuddered through an intense climax. "See what you could be enjoying right now if you weren't such a damn tease?"  
  
Rising to his feet, Jacob smiled down at the sweating, gasping psychologist. "Alright, now it's my turn," he declared. Reaching for his belt, it wasn't long before his pants hit the floor, and he was pulling his throbbing erection out of his briefs. "Suck it," he said, pointing down to the floor in front of him.  
  
"Sir, yessir," Kelly said with a smile, as she dropped to her knees and wrapped her fingers around the base of his shaft. Jacob gasped as he felt the warmth of her breath on his sensitive cock, before her lips wrapped around his length and began bobbing up and down. Her tongue worked along the underside of his prick, while she cupped and played with his balls.   
  
Damn, he'd never had a blowjob this good before. He'd only managed to convince Miranda to try it once, and her obvious discomfort and lack of skill meant he'd never broached the subject again. And while he'd partaken of a few ladies of the evening once or twice, Kelly's skills would put the whole lot of them to shame. It was all he could do not to blow his load down her throat right then.  
  
Reaching down, he put his hand on top of Kelly's head to get her attention. When she pulled away, saliva dripping from her lips and his glistening cock, Jacob pointed toward the desk. "Bend over," he commanded her, the feeling of being in command almost as much of a turn-on as the sexy woman in front of him.

As Kelly obeyed, Jacob came up behind her. Gripping the waistband of her panties, he tugged them slowly down to the floor, exposing Kelly's still-dripping pussy. Once the garment was down to Kelly's ankles, he had her lift her feet in order to toss the sodden garment aside.  
  
"Spread your legs," Jacob ordered her, and Kelly complied. He took his time, letting his hands stroke and grope at her asscheeks. Making her wait for it, just like Kasumi was making him wait. Finally, after he was sure Kelly couldn't take it any longer, Jacob pressed the head of his cock against her wet pussy, and slowly forced himself inside of her.  
  
"Yes, Jacob," Kelly urged him onward. "Do it, Jacob. Fuck me. Fuck me like you want to fuck Kasumi. Give it to me hard."  
  
Gripping onto Kelly's trim waist, Jacob began slowly pumping in and out of the eager yeoman's cunt.  
  
"Harder," she cried out. "Give it to me as hard as you want."  
  
"You want it harder?" Jacob asked her, gripping her waist tighter. He knew he was being too rough, but Kelly just kept begging him for it. Harder, she asked. He'd give her harder.  
  
Kelly cried out in pain and pleasure, Jacob's fingers leaving bruises on her pale skin, as his cock pistoned in and out of her faster and faster. With a growl, Jacob shoved Kelly forward, her cheek pressed against the surface of her desk, as he bent over her and thrust his painfully throbbing erection into her warm center.   
  
"You like that?" Jacob snarled into her ear. "You like that cock, you horny little slut?"  
  
"I love it," Kelly winced as Jacob's thrusts came even harder, the wet sweaty slap of his hips against her ass echoing across her office. "So good... your cock feels so good inside me..."  
  
"Unnnnnnnh," Jacob squeezed his eyes shut, as he felt his cock spasm and twitch inside Kelly's pussy. His cum filled Kelly's insides, Kelly moaning in pleasure at the warmth of his load inside her.  
  
As his orgasm subsided and he pulled his spent cock out of Kelly, Jacob's rational mind started to return. Immediately, he felt like he had made a huge mistake. It was crazy, but it had seemed like he hadn't been in control of his body in the last twenty minutes. Feeling ashamed of himself, he quickly started to clean himself off and get dressed.  
  
"That was amazing," Kelly said, turning around to face Jacob, his cum still dripping from between her legs. "You've been holding that back for a while, haven't you, Jacob?"  
  
Jacob didn't want to look at her. "Look, I think it would be best if we forget this ever happened," he quickly muttered, as he zipped up his pants.  
  
"Of course, Jacob," Kelly said, that friendly, platonic tone coming into her voice again. "Just like I said: nothing leaves this office."  
  
"I have to get going," he said, staring at Kelly expectantly. When she didn't respond, he added. "You should probably get dressed. In case somebody is outside when I leave."  
  
Kelly looked down at herself, naked and soaked with sweat. "What, you mean you don't want the rest of the ship to see your handiwork?" she quipped.  
  
"I'm serious, Kelly," Jacob said, staring with narrowed eyes at her. "Nobody finds out about this."  
  
"I'll duck out of sight when you leave, Jacob, don't worry," Kelly said. "Go say hi to Kasumi for me, huh?"  
  
Scowling, Jacob waited until Kelly was safely out of view of the door before stepping out of her office. Right about now, with the guilt of what he had just done hanging heavy over his head, Kasumi was the last person Jacob wanted to see right now.  
  
So, naturally, she was also the first person he ran into in the hallway.

"Oh, there you are!" Kasumi said, smiling at him adoringly. "So, we're going to be arriving on Illium pretty soon."  
  
"Yeah, just a few hours," Jacob said, wanting to cut this conversation short as quickly as possible. Seeing that loving look Kasumi was giving him just made the guilt of what he'd done hit all the harder.  
  
Kasumi stared at him quizzically. "So...? You want to do something while we're there? I mean, hanging out with you on the Normandy has been fun, but I think we could both use some fresh air, don't you think?"  
  
"Yeah, I suppose," Jacob said. "But I don't really know any places for us to go. Don't know Illium as well as I do the Citadel."  
  
"Well, you're in luck!" Kasumi grinned. "A friend of mine told me about an absolutely wonderful spot we can go to. Best view on Illium, she said. What do you say?"  
  
Jacob nodded quickly. "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you at the docks when we arrive, okay?"  
  
"Sure... thing?" Jacob heard Kasumi's confused tone as he brushed past her to the main lift. "I'll meet you there!" he heard her say just before the doors slid shut.  
  
Letting out a long breath, Jacob leaned against the wall of the lift. How could he have done this? Two-timing a woman like this... it wasn't the sort of thing he did. It felt like someone was controlling him, forcing him to do things he would never do in his right mind.  
  
"Well, you got it out of your system, at least," Jacob thought to himself. "Maybe Kelly will end up being right. Now that you got out all that pent-up frustration, you can put this behind you and be a good boyfriend to Kasumi from now on."  
  
It gave him solace to think that. At least, it did until he was back in the crew quarters, and those visions of him roughly fucking Kasumi into submission came flooding back again.


	21. My Love Is Madness (Illium)

"Wow! Would you look at that view?" Kasumi stared in amazement over the edge of the balcony. You can practically see the entire city from up here!"  
  
Jacob leaned his hands against the railing, looking out with little interest at the panoramic sight of Nos Astra below them. "Yeah, really nice."   
  
Kasumi's friend had given her directions to a public rooftop garden, and several couples and families were also taking in the sights around them. It was a beautiful vista, the bright lights of skyscraper windows and aircars below them like a dizzying galaxy of multicolored stars.   
  
But it wasn't anything Jacob hadn't seen before. And besides... right now his mind was on other things. The same things he'd been thinking about for the past few weeks, ever since he had suddenly decided to take a seat across from the lovely Japanese thief who was currently standing next to him.  
  
Kasumi looked over at him in concern. "You okay? Seem a little distracted tonight." Kelly must not have trusted Kasumi to borrow another one of her dresses tonight, so the lovely Japanese woman was wearing a simple red blouse and tan slacks. But even without getting all dressed up, Jacob couldn't help noticing how utterly enticing she looked. Her eyes, her lips, her body. Every single part of her seemed designed to bring out the animal in him, the primal urge to mate with her.  
  
After a second, Jacob remembered that she had asked him a question, and snapped out of his lustful thoughts. "Distracted? Yeah, maybe a little," Jacob said with a shrug. Looking over at her, he gave her a suggestive smile. "It's just that... this view, the city down there below us? Kinda reminds me of that night on the Citadel. You remember? How the lights reflected off the pool water. How you stripped off your dress and I got between your legs and..."  
  
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Kasumi quickly interrupted him, glancing over at an asari and turian walking by. Each of them holding the hand of an adorable, blue-skinned girl who stared at the two humans curiously. Kasumi smiled and waved at the young asari, then turned her attention back to Jacob. "Let's keep any stories family-friendly, huh?"  
  
Jacob waited until the couple and child were out of earshot, before moving in close and wrapping his arms around Kasumi's waist. "Listen. I know you said you wanted to take it slow," he spoke softly, his words only for her. "But I can't stop thinking about that night. How amazing you looked. And how much you made me want you." He leaned forward to place a kiss on her bare neck, and felt her shudder at the touch of his lips to her skin. "Come on, Kasumi," he said, his voice low and filled with husky desire. "Let's go back to the ship, and we can finish where we left off in that pool. I know you want to."  
  
"Jacob, please," Kasumi said, voice trembling. She didn't pull away from his embrace, but she still felt a little stiff, a little nervous in his arms. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I really do want to. But... look, I feel like we might have something here. Something more than just two people enjoying a little casual sex before the Reapers come and everything gets complicated."   
  
Taking a second to collect her thoughts, Kasumi stared soulfully into his eyes as she spoke. "If somebody had told me a month ago I would have the chance to be alone with you, to make love to you, and I was going to turn it down, I would have thought they were crazy. Or that _I_ had gone crazy. But these past few weeks, getting to know you, spending time with you... it's been amazing. I just worry that if we take that next step too soon, it might screw up the good thing we've got going."

It aggravated Jacob so much, hearing her say those words. The logical part of his mind knew she was right. On those nights when he'd been able to forget about his libido and just spend time talking with Kasumi in Port Observation, he had found himself enjoying it more than he expected. Kasumi was charming, funny, and one of the kindest, most caring individuals he'd ever met.   
  
A few nights ago, he had found himself talking about his experience on Eden Prime, and out of nowhere all of the bad memories came spilling out of him. Watching people he knew, people he considered friends getting impaled and converted into mindless zombies. Seeing his men getting cut to ribbons by the geth's weapons. And then the anger and frustration he had felt when the Alliance sidelined him, refusing to let him pursue the matter further. Forcing him to leave them behind and join a less bureaucratic (and also less ethical) organization.  
  
Kasumi hadn't said anything, simply sat and listened as he vented all of his emotions in front of her. After he was finished, she simply leaned over and embraced him without a word. And for a brief period, all of the overwrought sexual fantasies that had seemed to be constantly running through his head, just simply disappeared. The two of them simply held each other silently, and Jacob felt more peaceful than he ever had in a long time.  
  
But that was then. Then, the idea of waiting until later for sex sounded like a good idea. But now, Kasumi's hesitation was only making him more and more frustrated. Her simple desire to "wait until the right moment" seemed more and more like her toying with him. In fact, Jacob was increasingly sure that was exactly what it was.   
  
Kasumi knew how crazy she was driving him, the little cocktease. Stringing him along, enjoying watching him suffer. She probably thought that _she_ was going to end up making _him_ beg for it, make him crawl and grovel until she finally gave it up to him.   
  
Well, if that's what she thought, Jacob had a surprise in store for her.  
  
The plan started to form. In his mind, he could see himself tearing off her clothes, carrying her struggling, sexy little body to the center of the garden, and then bending her over and fucking her for everyone to see. She would scream and cry at first, but before long she'd surrender to him, the crowd getting a good look as the taunting little whore ended up begging for his cock. And with all these strangers watching, Jacob would make Kasumi declare that she was his fuck toy. That she belonged to him, and she would do whatever _he_ wanted from now on, fuck him whenever _he_ said so.  
  
In that split second, he could feel his hands moving up her back, gripping the fabric of her blouse and ready to tear it off her body. He couldn't take it anymore. He'd show this little bitch what teases like her got when they pushed a man like him too far. The potential consequences of doing something like this, in public no less, didn't matter to him anymore. All that mattered was to show Kasumi that he was in charge from now on. And to make sure she would never disrespect him again.  
  
But the haze of lust that was filling his mind was interrupted by the beeping of his omni-tool. The shrill sound of it was like an alarm clock, waking him up from the trance he had fallen into. He took a breath, felt the madness that had threatened to take him over starting to subside. The fantasies of Kasumi struggling and weeping, his cock buried deep inside her, vanished from his mind. Replaced with the incessant beeping, indicating an incoming message.  
  
"Just ignore it," Kasumi said, shifting her weight and leaning against him, her head resting against his chest.  
  
"Could be Shepard," Jacob said, pulling away from Kasumi and stepping away to answer the message. While Kasumi looked disappointed at the interruption to the date, Jacob couldn't have been more relieved. He had been seconds away from forcing himself on Kasumi, raping her in front of this crowd of people. And he doubted Shepard would have been willing to bail him out of an Illium jail if he'd done to Kasumi what he'd been picturing in his mind.

 Jacob's relief over the interruption immediately vanished when he saw who was messaging him. "Come to this address. I've got a surprise for you," said the simple block of text, along with directions from his current location to a building about a block away. The sender field at the top of the message indicated the author: Kelly Chambers.  
  
"Not right now, I'm busy," Jacob typed back, hitting the reply button and starting to take a step back to Kasumi. Almost immediately, however, his omni-tool chimed again.  
  
When Jacob pulled up the response message, he hissed in his breath. Quickly, he turned his back to Kasumi and the rest of the people in the garden.   
  
The top of the message had an image attached: the head was cropped out of the frame, but from his previous experience with her back on the ship, there was no doubt that it was Kelly's body in the picture. She was wearing a long coat, which was currently being held open to show off what was underneath for the camera: aside from a pair of boots, she was completely naked. The text below read, "I'm waiting for you, Jacob. Or would you rather I come up there and see if Kasumi wants to borrow my coat?"  
  
"Is it Shepard?" Jacob heard Kasumi's voice behind him, and he stabbed for the omni-tool power button in panic. The lewd image vanished just as Kasumi reached him.  
  
"Uh, no. It was... nothing important," Jacob said, turning to give Kasumi an innocent smile. "Say, I think I saw a liquor store while we were on our way here. How about I go get us something to drink? Bottle of wine, maybe?"  
  
"Jacob, are you trying to get me drunk?" Kasumi said playfully. "A sweet guy like you, I know you couldn't _possibly_ be thinking about taking advantage of me while I'm not of sound mind."  
  
Jacob shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said, even while the fantasy of stripping and raping Kasumi reappeared in the back of his mind. "Just wait here, and I'll go see if I can find that store."  
  
"Sure you don't want me to come with you?" Kasumi offered. "After all, Nos Astra's liquor taxes are absolutely insane. And I'd hate to see you wipe out half your bank account on a simple bottle of wine, when I can get it for you at a whopping 100% off discount."  
  
"Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but how about we have a date without any criminal activity involved for a change?" Jacob responded with a casual smile.  
  
"Oh, you're no fun," Kasumi said, putting on a pouty face. "Okay, I'll wait here. Don't take too long, now."  
  
"I wo..." Jacob started to say, but was cut off when Kasumi leaned forward and pecked him lightly on the lips. Before Jacob could respond to that, Kasumi turned and made her way to one of the nearby benches. Jacob watched her ass sway as she walked away, the savage lust he had just managed to resist threatening to flare up again. Before he could let himself consider it too long, he turned away from Kasumi and headed toward the lift down to ground level.  
  
* * *  
  
With the directions Kelly had given him, Jacob found himself at the door to a small, unassuming storage facility. He glanced around first, making sure nobody was around that would recognize him, before opening the door and ducking inside.  
  
The building was barely lit, the storage crates inside only slightly visible under the dim glow of the light fixtures above. Once Jacob had entered the building, and the door slid shut behind him, he saw Kelly step out from behind one of the piles of crates. Her coat was closed now, but Jacob could catch glimpses of the bare flesh underneath as she walked towards him, a lewd smile on her face.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Jacob hissed at her. "I thought you said what happened in your office was between us. Now you're going around sending me dirty pictures while I'm with Kasumi? Shit like this can't happen, you understand?"  
  
Kelly weathered his anger without a reaction. Once he was finished, she rested a hand on his chest. "Jacob, I'm here to help you. After what you told me in your office, those thoughts you were having about Kasumi? Urges like that don't just go away with one little quickie in my office. Tell me the truth: I bet you were thinking about doing things to Kasumi, right when I sent you that message."

Dammit. How in the hell could she know? "Yeah, maybe I was," Jacob admitted. "Kelly, I... I don't know what's happening to me. It's getting harder for me to control myself around her. I swear to God, I'm pretty sure I was seconds away from... attacking her."  
  
"It's like I said, Jacob," Kelly calmly explained. "You just need an outlet for those urges. A way to release all that frustration you have building up. And I'm here to help you with that."  
  
"Okay, fine," Jacob said, reaching for his belt and loosening his pants. "Let's just make this quick. Kasumi's waiting for me."  
  
Kelly reached to take hold of Jacob's fumbling fingers. "Not me, Jacob. Looking at you the way you are now... I don't think I'm going to be enough to satisfy you."  
  
"Then what is, dammit?" Jacob said. He could feel his erection straining against the crotch of his pants. Right about now, he didn't care about who it was. He just needed to fuck, so badly it was almost driving him crazy.  
  
"I've got a surprise for you, Jacob," Kelly said, turning away from him towards the door to the building. "Should be arriving any second now."  
  
Jacob followed her gaze to the door. As if on cue, it slid open, and the last person Jacob would have expected to see stepped inside.  
  
"Okay, I'm here, dammit," Jack said. "Now what..."  
  
"Stop talking," Kelly said, her tone commanding but still with that unmistakable Kelly cheeriness. "Step inside the building and let the door close behind you. Don't move again until someone instructs you differently."  
  
Jacob watched in awe, as Jack began following Kelly's instructions to the letter. Was he really seeing this? Jack, the woman who had spent most of her life hating anyone connected to Cerberus, following Kelly's instructions without protest? It didn't seem possible.  
  
Kelly turned to him, saw the confusion on his face, and giggled. "Jack here has been taking some of my special therapy. Turns out that, under all that anger and rebelliousness, Jack just wanted to be controlled."  
  
Jack's face twisted in anger, her mouth opening as if to protest. But nothing came out. Kelly watched her struggle to speak with a devious smirk.  
  
"These last few weeks, I've been training her," Kelly explained. "Teaching her how to follow instructions, to do anything that's asked of her. As you can see, it's been working remarkably well." Turning to Jack, she mockingly cooed at her, "Isn't that right, Jack? You're an obedient little slut, aren't you? You'll do anything I'll tell you to, won't you?"  
  
Jacob stared at Jack, expecting any second for her to spring forward and latch her hands around Kelly's throat. But she just stood still, her only movement the snarling expression of rage on her face.  
  
"This... doesn't seem possible," Jacob said. "What kind of 'therapy' would do something like this?"  
  
"Oh, I have my methods," Kelly mysteriously responded. "And right now, I think my methods are just what you need, to keep those urges of yours in check."   
  
Turning her attention to Jack, she put that authoritative tone back in her voice. "Jack, answer this question, and answer it truthfully: would you like to fuck Jacob?"  
  
The command to answer the question brought Jack's voice back to her, it seemed, and she wasted no time in using it. "Fuck no! I'm not going to let some Cerberus fuck like him stick his cock in me! I'd sooner rip the fucking thing off and shove it down his goddamn throat until he chokes on his own..."  
  
"Stop talking," Kelly commanded, and Jack immediately fell silent. Turning back to Jacob, Kelly let her coat fall partway open, revealing her naked body in the dim light. Jacob felt her lean against him, pressing her warm flesh to his body, as she reached down to his unfastened belt and sought out his throbbing erection.  
  
"You hear that, Jacob?" she whispered into his ear. "She hates your guts. She'd rather die than let you fuck her. But with a single command, you could have her down on her knees, worshiping your cock with her mouth."   
  
Kelly's hands found his manhood, and she gently withdrew the throbbing piece of stiff meat from his pants. "I'm giving her to you, Jacob. She'll follow your orders just as she would mine. Tell her to do anything, and she'll obey without a word of protest."

As Kelly stroked his cock, Jacob stared at the angry, but obedient woman in front of them. The logical part of him was telling him to walk away from all this. But as he looked at Jack, standing stock-still and waiting for further instructions, he found he couldn't resist the urge to put Kelly's claims to the test.  
  
"Jack," Jacob said, filling his voice with authority as he spoke, "Take off all your clothes."  
  
And immediately, Jack grabbed the straps across her breasts and yanked them off. As Jacob watched Jack strip off all her clothing, he found himself grinning. It was true. Jack was completely under his control. She would do anything he said, fulfill all of the desires that Kasumi refused to.  
  
"Come over here and suck my cock," Jacob said as soon as Jack was finished removing her last bits of clothing. And despite the resistance she had shown to the idea when Kelly had questioned her, Jack wasted no time walking over to him, dropping to her knees, and wrapping her lips around his throbbing cock. Even with her under his complete control, Jacob couldn't resist the urge to put a hand on top of her head as she sucked, forcing his cock deeper down Jack's throat.   
  
"That's it," he heard Kelly whispering next to him. "Look at her, Jacob. She's yours. Yours to command, to fuck any way you want. I bet Kasumi isn't sucking your cock like this back on the Normandy, is she?"  
  
She wasn't, and Kelly reminding him about Kasumi's teasing ways just reminded Jacob of the anger he had felt earlier on the rooftop. Roughly, he grabbed Jack by the sides of her head and forced his cock all the way down her throat. He could hear Jack making gagging sounds around his prick, but he didn't care. "Yeah," he muttered. "You were gonna rip off my cock and make me choke on it, huh? Well, see how you like choking on this, bitch."  
  
After several seconds of holding his cock down Jack's throat, Jack choking and trying in vain to take a breath, Jacob finally released the grip on her head. Pulling away from Jacob's cock, Jack immediately inhaled a deep, raspy breath, coughing a little as she was able to breathe again. Jacob watched in sick amusement as, only a second after she had recovered, Jack went right back to blowing him as if nothing had happened.  
  
"She'll really keep going until I tell her to stop, huh?" Jacob marveled to Kelly, who simply nodded in response. "Damn, that therapy of yours is powerful stuff."  
  
"You have no idea," Kelly said, a hint of something in her voice. Jacob couldn't tell what, but right now he really couldn't care less. His attention was completely focused on his brand new toy.  
  
"Okay, Jack," he ordered her, removing his hand from her head. "Stand up and come over this way."  
  
Pulling away from Jacob's cock, dripping with thick gobs of her saliva, Jack rose to her feet obediently. Jacob led her over to a nearby work table. Beckoning Kelly to join them, Jacob pointed towards the table. "Sit down there and spread your legs," he instructed Kelly.  
  
While Kelly wasn't under the same influence as Jack, she still complied with Jacob's orders just as dutifully. Sitting on the edge of the bench, she tossed open her long coat and spread her legs wide, putting her damp pussy on display without hesitation.  
  
"Eat Kelly out while I fuck you," Jacob commanded Jack, pointing his pleasingly subservient slave towards Kelly's spread legs.  
  
Robotically, Jack walked over to stand in front of Kelly. Bending over, she planted her face in Kelly's crotch and began lapping at the yeoman's dripping snatch. Kelly looked down at Jack's bobbing head with a lazy smile, reaching up to fondle one of her breasts as she watched Jack carry out Jacob's orders.  
  
Coming up behind Jack, Jacob saw that her pussy was bone dry. While she was obeying all of Jacob's orders to the letter, she was obviously not enjoying herself. Jacob was about to rub the head of his spit-covered cock against the folds of Jack's snatch to lube her up, when he had a brainstorm.

"Jack," he said, leaning forward slightly to make sure Jack heard him from between Kelly's thighs. "You're feeling incredibly horny right now. In fact, you've never been more turned on in your life than at this moment. You want my cock inside you so bad, you feel like you'll never be able to cum again until I've fucked you."  
  
And like magic, Jacob watched Jack's entire demeanor change. He could hear her start to let out gasping breaths as she ran her tongue along Kelly's pussy. She spread her legs a little further apart, and Jacob watched in amazement as Jack's previously dry pussy began to drip with her arousal almost immediately.   
  
Grabbing the base of his shaft, Jacob grinned wickedly as he rubbed his cockhead against Jack's now wet snatch. Teasing at it, but not entering her just yet. "Jack, tell me what you want me to do."  
  
"Fuck me," Jack moaned, as she pulled away from Kelly's pussy to speak. "Fuck me, you fucked-up Cerberus piece of shit! Just fucking do it already, you pervy fuck!"  
  
Jacob continued rubbing the head of his cock against her folds, Jack trying her best to thrust her hips back against him, but Jacob pulling back every time she pressed her pussy in his direction. "Can't say I like that tone, Jack. You want this so bad? I'm thinking maybe you should beg me for it. Don't you think so, Kelly?"  
  
"Absolutely," Kelly said, rubbing herself in the absence of Jack's tongue as she watched this all play out. "If she wants the privilege of having your cock inside her, it's only right that she should show you the proper respect and beg for it."  
  
Kelly was right. As he stared down at Jack, still bent over with her pussy warm and wet against the head of his cock, Jacob felt hot anger rising up in him again. Damn that Kasumi, going around acting like she was such a big deal. If she knew what was good for her, she'd be on her knees every night, begging Jacob for the chance to feel his stiff cock inside her. What made her any better than Jack here? Why shouldn't she be _pleading_ for him to fuck her, just like Jack was?  
  
Leaning towards Jack again, Jacob growled at her. "You heard her, you stuck-up bitch. You want this cock? Beg me for it. Beg me to fuck you."  
  
He could see Jack wince for just a split second, before the order took effect. "Please, Jacob," Jack finally said, and the sound of it made Jacob's manhood throb against her wet snatch. "Please fuck me. I need that fucking cock inside me. Give it to me, now! Make me cum, Jacob! Make me cum with that fat cock of yours!"  
  
Damn, he could have listened to her plead with him for hours. The desperation in her voice, the uncontrollable need in every single word. She was his. His to do whatever he wanted with.  
  
In his mind, he could hear Jack's voice replaced with Kasumi's. "Fuck me, Jacob," he heard Kasumi moan, the little slut naked, bent over, and waiting for him. "I need your cock inside me! Do it to me now! I'm begging you please. Fuck me!"  
  
And that was enough for him. Jacob grabbed Jack by the hips, took aim, and buried his full length inside of her with one thrust. As he began roughly fucking Jack, he renewed the order for her to eat Kelly's pussy.   
  
All three of them grunted and moaned, the small storage building filled with the sounds of their cries and of wet slaps of flesh against flesh. In between thrusts, Jacob delivered hard slaps to Jack's ass. With each impact, Jack would let out a pained cry, that would turn to a heated moan as Jacob's cock reentered her. All while Kelly gasped and squealed in delight, Jack's busy tongue driving her closer and closer to the brink of climax.  
  
As Jacob felt his arousal starting to build to the final release, he heard his omni-tool beeping. Most likely Kasumi, wondering where he was.   
  
Fuck her. She could have been here in Jack's place, getting the chance to have Jacob fuck her like she deserved. Let her wait.  
  
Finally, Jacob felt the familiar muscle spasms of his orgasm hitting, and he let out a savage cry as his cock dumped its load inside Jack's eager cunt. Kelly seemed to reach her own release around the same time, and he could hear the horny yeoman moan in release as she came from Jack's oral attentions.

With the haze of arousal dispelling, Jacob's rational mind returned to him gradually. He blinked, looking down at his cock still buried balls-deep inside Jack, and quickly stepped away in shock. His shrinking manhood fell out of Jack as he moved backwards, and cum started spilling from her pussy as soon as it was removed.  
  
The sight of his semen running down Jack's scarred and tattooed legs brought home the reality of what Jacob had just done. "Jesus," he muttered. It had been just like the last time, when he'd had sex with Kelly in her office. That odd sensation he'd had, like he wasn't in control of his own actions.   
  
"What the hell did I just do?" he asked. More to himself than to anyone else in the room.  
  
But Kelly answered anyway. "Nothing but what's in your own nature," Kelly said. She whispered a command to Jack, and the compliant biotic stood up straight. Hopping off of the table, Kelly walked up to Jacob and laid a hand on his shoulder, staring intently into his eyes. "This is who you are, Jacob. An alpha male, a powerful man that any woman should be honored to serve. I knew it from the first day I met you. You weren't meant to go on dates with women. To pretend to care about their feelings, waste your time listening to their pointless stories. You were meant to take them. To fuck them like animals, and make them your docile slaves."   
  
Stepping around him, Kelly wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, her mouth coming up to his ear as she whispered. "Jack isn't the only woman on the Normandy who's had my special therapy. There are more of them. Lots more. They're my gift to you, Jacob."  
  
"I didn't ask for this!" Jacob snapped, pulling her arms away from him and whirling to face her. "Dammit, this needs to end! Whatever you've done to Jack, undo it."  
  
Looking disappointed in him, Kelly reached down to fasten her coat, hiding her sweat-soaked naked body from view. "I could do that, Jacob. Of course, if I did, Jack would be free to do whatever she wanted from then on. Get her revenge on us for manipulating her. At the very least, I'm sure she'd tell Kasumi all about what happened here today. Somehow, I think that would be a bit of a damper on your relationship."  
  
Jacob placed his hand to his forehead. What was happening to him? How had he let this go this far?   
  
"You still want me to undo it, Jacob?" Kelly asked him.  
  
"No, don't do that," Jacob finally said. "Just... make sure she doesn't remember this."  
  
"Not a problem," Kelly said. Walking over to Jack, she delivered her orders. "Jack, you're going to clean yourself up, get dressed, and then leave this building. After that, you will walk to the commercial district, lay down on a bench, and fall asleep. And when you wake up, you won't remember anything that happened after you opened the door to this building. Do you understand these instructions?"  
  
"Yeah," Jack muttered, and immediately set to work at making herself decent.  
  
"There, problem solved," Kelly said. She arched her brow when a beeping noise filled the building again. "Think your date is getting impatient, Jacob."  
  
"Shit," Jacob spat out, turning away from Kelly and making his way towards the door.  
  
"Uh, Jacob?" Kelly called out. When Jacob turned around, Kelly made a motion with her finger towards Jacob's crotch. Looking down, Jacob quickly tucked his flaccid cock back into his pants and redid his belt before making his swift departure.  
  
* * *  
  
"Jacob!" Kasumi cried out in relief, standing up from the garden bench as Jacob came out of the lift. "What happened to you? You've been gone for more than..."  
  
Jacob breathed heavily, the combination of his recent sexual adventures and the run back to the tower leaving him slightly winded. "Kasumi, I'm so sorry. You're not going to believe what just happened. Got finished buying that bottle of wine, and as soon as I walk out of the store, this salarian bastard just runs up to me and snatches it right out of my hands!"  
  
"My God," Kasumi gasped. "Jacob, that's terrible! I guess you chased after him?"

"For a while, yeah. But he was too damn fast for me," Jacob said, rattling off the story he had prepared on his way back to the building. "Gave me the slip after about ten minutes of running."  
  
"Ten minutes?" Kasumi said, looking confused. "But you were gone way longer than that."  
  
"Yeah, remember how I told you I wasn't as familiar with Illium as I was with the Citadel?" Jacob said, trying his best to look embarrassed. "Well, by the time I'd given up trying to catch the guy, I realized I had no idea where the hell I was. Had to ask directions from three different people before I found my way back here."  
  
Kasumi wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, you poor thing. Going to all that trouble." She looked up into his eyes in concern. "But you shouldn't have chased after him, you know. What if he was going to lead you into a trap or something?"  
  
"Yeah, you're right. I guess I wasn't thinking," Jacob said. "It was just... I didn't want anything to screw up tonight, you know? Was hoping I could grab the guy and get back here with the wine before you even realized anything had happened. Dammit, if I'd just been a little bit faster..."  
  
"Just forget about it," Kasumi said. The warm smile she gave him made the guilt Jacob was feeling about the lie even worse. "We've still got an hour to go before we've got to get back to the ship. Let's just take a walk around the city and do some sight-seeing." She snickered as she added, "Make sure you don't get lost the next time you go chasing after wine thieves. Sound good?"  
  
Jacob nodded. "Sounds great." He extended his arm out, and Kasumi linked her arm with his as they walked towards the lift.  
  
As they entered the lift and the doors shut in front of them, Kasumi looked over at him curiously. "So... what type of wine was it?"  
  
"Huh?" Jacob said, caught off-guard by the question.  
  
"It's just... you probably spent a lot of money on it, and I'd hate to see you lose all those credits for nothing," Kasumi said, getting a determined look on her face. "Just tell me what type of wine it was, and I'll make sure to get us a replacement the next time we take shore leave."  
  
"Nah, don't do that. I'm not going to risk you getting caught holding up a liquor store or something just because I was too slow."  
  
"I insist. Just tell me what brand it was. I promise, they'll never know it's gone once I'm finished."  
  
Fumbling, Jacob struggled to come up with a name. Finally, he gave Kasumi a nervous chuckle. "You know, to be honest? I don't remember. I just asked the guy at the store to give me the best wine he had, and I bought the first thing he handed me. Sorry."  
  
"Aw," Kasumi said. "Well, I'll get you something special to make it up to you, I promise."  
  
The lift doors opened, and the two of them stepped out for their walk around the city.   
  
While the smile and warm tone in Kasumi's voice as she chatted with him indicated she was having a good time, Jacob was miles away. The encounter with Kelly and Jack had thankfully dealt with his urges to drag Kasumi in an alley and have his way with her, for now at least. But his mind was now focused on what Kelly had said just before he had left the storage facility.  
  
 _"Jack isn't the only woman on the Normandy who's had my special therapy. There are more of them. Lots more. They're my gift to you, Jacob."_  
  
So while Kasumi talked, and Jacob gave brief, off-hand answers to any questions she posed him, he was thinking about the rest of the Normandy crew. So many beautiful women to choose from. How many of them were just like Jack now? Eager to follow any order given to them. Ready to offer themselves up to Jacob with the snap of a finger.  
  
The thought of this kept Jacob's mind occupied long after they'd arrived back at the docking bay.


	22. My Love Is Madness (Before Omega)

"Stop, please!" said the black-hooded woman, on her back on the floor of Kelly's office. "I won't tell anyone about this, I swear! Just let me go!"  
  
"Quiet!" Jacob ordered, watching from his chair in satisfaction as she struggled futilely. With a nod from Jacob, Kelly reached down and yanked off the woman's pants and underwear all at once, exposing her bare snatch to the air. No sooner had the garments been removed than the red-headed yeoman began stroking at the captive woman's clit. The victim of her forced attentions tried to move away from Kelly's probing fingers, but with Donnelly and Daniels holding both of her arms down onto the floor, she didn't have much room to maneuver.  
  
"Oh, master," said Ensign Dina Rhodes, the blond-haired member of the bridge crew kneeling between Jacob's legs and pressing his throbbing cock between her ample tits. She stared up at him adoringly, as she worked her breasts up and down the length of his shaft. "May I watch you break in your new slave, master?" Jacob leered down at her, giving her a nod that made the gorgeous blonde grin eagerly, and work her tits around his cock even faster in gratitude.   
  
Even before all of these urges had started to fill him, Jacob had always thought of Ensign Dina Rhodes as one of the most attractive members of the Normandy crew. And since she was one of the people on the list Kelly had given him - the recipients of her "special therapy" - Jacob had been eager to include Dina in this little fantasy session of his.  
  
They had brought "Kasumi," struggling and begging for mercy, into his "personal chambers." Those chambers actually being Kelly's office, her desk shoved off to the side to allow Jacob an unobstructed view of the action going on down on the floor.  
  
"Please," "Kasumi" pleaded, gasping as Kelly prepared Jacob's newest slave for her expected duties. Jacob tried his best not to notice the scars and tattoos snaking around "Kasumi's" legs, as Kelly lay between them and put her mouth to work on the struggling woman's snatch.   
  
When Donnelly had brought Jack into the room, dressed in an outfit like the one Kasumi wore most of the time, Jacob hadn't been sure that Kelly's conditioning would work to help fulfill his fantasy. But after instructing Jack to "believe that you're Kasumi, and that you're my prisoner," Jack had followed the instructions without hesitating. Granted, her imitation of Kasumi's accent was passable at best. And there were certainly many differences between the body of the former convict and Cerberus test subject, and what Jacob had seen in the estate on the Citadel that night with the real Kasumi.  
  
But Jacob was starting to run out of ideas. When they had first gotten back from Illium, he had indulged himself with several of the women mentioned in Kelly's list of "trained" subjects. She had warned him to be cautious. That not all of the crew had been conditioned, and that he might have a lot of questions to answer if Shepard or someone else walked in while he was balls-deep in a squealing ensign.   
  
So over the past 24 hours, whenever he had found one of Kelly's patients in a private spot, he indulged himself. And for a while, it had worked to quell his uncontrollable lust. The rush he had gotten as he had walked into engineering, bent Gabby Daniels over one of her consoles, and pulled down her uniform pants and started fucking her without saying a word... it was unbelievable.  
  
But as enjoyable as it had been at first, to treat the female crew of the Normandy as his own personal amusements, he just couldn't stop thinking about Kasumi. He found himself closing his eyes while he was thrusting into his latest plaything, imagining that it was Kasumi crying out, begging for his cock. That it's was Kasumi's inner walls gripping his shaft, her wetness lubricating him as he pummeled her pussy into submission.  
  
It wasn't her, though. And it was getting harder and harder for him to get any sort of pleasure out of fucking other women, when the only woman he wanted was unavailable to him. So he had set this encounter up, hoping that he could fool himself into believing that the beautiful cat burglar had finally submitted herself to him.

Patting Dina on the head, he directed her to step aside, as he stood from Kelly's chair and approached Jack on the floor. By now, Kelly's tongue had brought enough forced arousal to Jack, that Kelly's face glistened with her moisture as she pulled away from Jack's crotch. "She's ready for you, master," Kelly said reverently, moving away and allowing Jacob to lower himself onto "Kasumi."  
  
"You're mine, Kasumi," Jacob growled at her, staring into Jack's scared brown eyes and imagining they were the blue eyes of the woman he wanted more than anything. "Mine to do what I want with. Mine to fuck when I feel like fucking. The word 'no' isn't part of your vocabulary anymore, not when I'm around. You understand me?"  
  
Jack nodded frantically.  
  
"Good," Jacob said, as he reached down and placed the tip of his cock between her damp nether lips. Once he was partially inside of her, he waved Donnelly and Daniels away, and reached down to grip onto Jack's shoulders, holding her in place. "Now, you're gonna take this cock, and you're gonna love it."  
  
He thrust forward, and Jack let out a low moan as he buried himself inside her. Roughly, he began fucking her, taking out all of his frustrations and anger at Kasumi on Jack's wet cunt.  
  
Around him, Kelly and the other crew members got into the heat of the moment, their uniforms falling to the floor as they paired off. Soon, Kelly was bent against the wall, moaning in delight as Donnelly fucked her from behind. Meanwhile, Daniels slumped into the chair that Jacob had formerly occupied and spread her legs. Her hands on Gabby's thighs, Dina knelt down and began running her tongue up and down the female engineer's moist cunt. All around him, Jacob heard the sounds of carnal pleasure, and he closed his eyes to immerse himself in the fantasy.  
  
"I'm fucking you, Kasumi," Jacob said, more to himself than to the woman writhing below him. "You're mine now, Kasumi. Mine to do what I want with."  
  
"Yes," Jack breathed under him, her pale imitation of Kasumi's voice almost inaudible with all the loud sounds of fucking echoing around the small office space. "You're my master, Jacob. I was a fool to ever resist you. Take me, master. Take me like an animal. Like a worthless slave."  
  
"Dammit," Jacob said, squeezing his eyes tighter. It wasn't working. He could feel the self-delusion fading around him. Even with his eyes shut, he knew that it was Jack under him. Jack, who was already broken. Who would do whatever he asked her to without question. Even as he desperately fucked her harder, he could feel his erection start to shrink a little.  
  
"She's Kasumi. I'm fucking Kasumi," Jacob thought desperately to himself, thinking about that night on the Citadel again. The taste of Kasumi's cunt on his tongue, the beautiful thief wet and ready for him. It should have happened that night. Dammit, if that bitch hadn't pulled this "wait until the right moment" bullshit on him, he wouldn't be where he was right now. Pathetically pretending that some other woman was her, when deep down he knew that only one thing would satisfy him.  
  
Finally, he gave up. "Stop," he called out to the room. Withdrawing his now flaccid member from Jack, he rose to his feet and sighed. "Sorry, it's... it's just not working."  
  
The four other crew members immediately stopped what they were doing. "What's wrong, Jacob? Do you want one of us to pretend to be Kasumi, instead?" Kelly asked him, as Donnelly pulled out of her and she stood up straight.  
  
Jacob shook his head. "Forget it." Looking down at Jack, he instructed her. "Get on your feet." He gave orders to Donnelly and Daniels. "You two get her dressed in her normal clothes and take her back to her bunk. Make sure she doesn't remember anything that happened in this office."  
  
The two engineers nodded, and began putting on their uniforms to prepare to escort Jack back. Once the engineers and Jack had left, Jacob slumped back down into Kelly's chair, resting his forehead on his hand.  
  
"It's no good," Jacob said, as Kelly crouched down at his side. "It has to be Kasumi. Nothing else is gonna satisfy me anymore."

"Did I not do a good job?" Dina asked meekly, as she returned to her spot between Jacob's legs, fingers wrapping around his limp cock and trying to coax it back to an erection.  
  
Jacob sighed, too dejected to tell Dina to stop, even though he knew it was pointless. "I don't know what to do, Kelly. The last time I was with Kasumi, I damn near forced myself on her. If we're ever together again... I'm afraid of what I'm gonna do to her."  
  
"Oh, Jacob," Kelly said, leaning onto the arm of the chair from her crouched position and bringing her lips close to his ear. "What if I told you there was a way to control Kasumi? Just like the ensign here, and all the other people on my list."  
  
This definitely got Jacob's attention, and he could feel his cock throb in Dina's hand. The blond ensign grinned at this, and took it as an invitation to lean forward and take Jacob into her mouth. Jacob paid this little attention, however, focused more on what Kelly had just said. "I thought you said she wasn't one of your patients."  
  
"She isn't," Kelly said. "See, there's something I haven't been telling you. What's been happening to the crew of the Normandy... it isn't actually me that's been doing it. Someone else is in control."  
  
"Who?" Jacob asked. He was starting to get a queer feeling in his gut. Like some part of him, buried deep inside of his mind, already knew the answer to his own question. But if he did, it was eluding him at the moment. Whether that was the distraction of Dina's mouth around his now rock-hard cock, or something else, Jacob wasn't sure.  
  
Kelly let out a little giggle. "I'll tell you, Jacob. I'll tell you all about how you can take control of Kasumi, and everyone else on this ship if you want. But first you have to do something for me."  
  
"Shit..." Jacob said, as the tip of Dina's tongue teased around the head of his cock. Kelly's offer was everything he wanted at the moment. But at the same time... it made him think about Kasumi. Not the sexy woman he'd been desperate to fuck for the past few weeks, but the pleasant dinner companion. The warm person he had shared several long and meaningful conversations with, stretching out until the both of them were too tired to stay up any longer. The genuinely good and decent person, who would just as soon donate her latest haul to charity as spend it herself. Did he really want to turn her into an obedient sex-toy, like the ensign sucking his cock at the moment? Rob her of her independence and turn her into just another hole to stick his cock into?  
  
But the more he thought about it, the more he resigned himself to the reality that it was the only option. He wanted her. Needed her so badly, it was overwhelming his rational mind. If he didn't take control of her through whatever method Kelly was suggesting, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he would be unable to hold himself back.   
  
And wouldn't it be better for both of them this way? Kasumi would be happy, or would at least believe she was, and Jacob wouldn't feel like he was going to go insane with lust every time he was around her. If both of them were going to be focused on the upcoming battle with the Reapers, this was undeniably the best option.  
  
"Fine," Jacob finally cast aside his hesitation. "What do you want me to do, Kelly?"  
  
"When we get to Omega," Kelly said, reaching out to idly stroke Dina's hair as the ensign bobbed her head on Jacob's cock, "I want you to take me out."  
  
A confused look came to Jacob's face. "Like... on a date? But Kasumi will..."

Kelly laughed softly. "Don't worry about Kasumi. We'll be keeping her busy with other things when we arrive. And once we leave Omega, and I let you in on the big secret... what she thinks about you, about anything, won't really matter much anymore. She'll be yours, Jacob. And not just her, but everyone on this ship. Even the ones that weren't on the list, they'll all answer to you, and you alone. That is, if you're still interested."  
  
In his mind, Jacob saw the crew of the Normandy. Not just Kasumi, but Miranda. Samara. And Shepard. They would all be under his control. No more creeping around, sneaking in fucks when he could catch someone in private. He could take all of them, anytime he wanted. Bend Shepard over and fuck her in the middle of the CIC if he felt like it.  
  
"Fuck," Jacob grunted, as he felt his cock jerk between Dina's lips. Kelly watched with a satisfied smirk as Jacob thrust his hips upward, Dina taking as much of his load into her mouth as she could hold.  
  
Moving away from Jacob's side, Kelly knelt down next to Dina, and pressed her lips to the blond ensign's. The two of them traded his cum between their mouths, their tongues coated with the frothy mixture of saliva and semen as they messily frenched each other. Turning to Jacob, her face dripping with spit and cum, Kelly smiled. "So, Jacob... do we have a date?"  
  
After such a massive orgasm, Jacob was too weak to do anything but nod.


	23. My Love Is Madness (Omega)

Leaning on a railing outside of Afterlife, Markan stared at the crowd of people waiting to get inside, and tried his best to look on the bright side of things.   
  
"Just think about how much money you spent," he thought, "bribing that one bouncer at the back entrance to let you in every night. Hell, you pretty much wiped out most of your profits from the shop each day, getting in there. With all the credits you're going to save now, you'll be able to afford that new omni-tool in a week's time!"  
  
But it all rang hollow. He had been so close. Victoriana had been sitting right next to him, and if he had just opened his mouth, he would have been able to talk to her. Sure, she might have shot him down, told him to stop bothering her, but at least he would have known.  
  
Now, here he was: body aching from the blows Aria's men had given him while throwing him out, and banned from ever setting foot inside Afterlife again. And unless he upped his pervert status considerably and started hanging out around the back door of Afterlife, or unless Victoriana suddenly had a pressing need to purchase some engine-cleaning supplies from his shop, he'd never see the radiantly beautiful asari dancer again.  
  
His eyes flicked around the crowd, looking at all the people of Omega enjoying their evenings, and envying their happiness. One particular woman caught his eye: a red-headed human woman who reminded him of Leslie. She was wearing one of those asari-designed dresses that left the human's bare midriff exposed. Leslie had had a dress just like that one; it had been the last thing she'd thrown into her suitcase before she walked out the door, and out of Markan's life.  
  
Next to her stood a dark-skinned human male, his arm around the woman's waist as they walked through the Omega streets. From the smiles on their faces and their casual demeanors, you would think they were having a pleasant stroll on an Earth beach, and not having a date on one of the biggest dens of pirates, smugglers, and murderers in the entire galaxy.  
  
"Treat her right, human," Markan thought to himself as he watched them walk. "Don't take her for granted, or you'll lose her before you realize what's happened."  
  
Just as he made to move away from the railing and take the long walk home, there was a flash of light, and a human form materialized in front of the two lovebirds. Markan recognized her immediately: the hooded human who had gotten into the argument with Jack just before the impromptu gangbang had started. Markan felt a chill of fear run through him. He didn't need more insanity like what had happened inside of Afterlife. Not tonight, of all nights.  
  
The suddenly visible human – Kasumi, that was the name – had appeared directly in front of the dark-skinned male. No sooner had she made herself visible than she started yelling at him. He couldn't hear what she was saying from where he was standing. But from the expression on her face, and the redness around her eyes and damp cheeks, Markan could guess that she wasn't too happy with him.  
  
"Stay away from Jacob," she had said back at the bar. Markan assumed that the man Kasumi was yelling at must have been this cheating Jacob fellow. And realizing that, Markan found himself immediately hating the guy. Here Markan was, barely able to find _one_ woman willing to put up with him long enough to have a relationship. And apparently this Jacob guy was juggling _three_ women? Even if Kasumi's first appearance had ultimately sparked the situation that led to his ban from Afterlife, Markan found himself rooting for her all the same.  
  
Kasumi's voice was rising in volume, and even from this distance, Markan was beginning to make out some of her words.   
  
"...thought we had something special..." "...trusted you..." "...lying to me..." "...saw it all on the..."

The argument was starting to draw glances from the crowd, as Jacob waited for Kasumi to finish speaking before responding. Markan knew it was none of his business, but he surreptitiously started to move towards them. If anything, he was curious if he could find out whether all of this was connected to the strange carnal events that had occurred in Afterlife earlier that night. As he drew close, he could hear some of Jacob's softly spoken words.  
  
"...couldn't expect me to wait forever..." "...urges like any other man..." "...kept dangling that carrot without letting me have a bite, what did you think I..."  
  
As Markan moved in as close as he dared without drawing the notice of the three humans, he saw fresh tears flowing down Kasumi's cheeks, in response to Jacob's harsh words. "You bastard!" she cried out. Just like with Jack, she wound back to slap Jacob in the face.  
  
But Jacob saw it coming, and grabbed her wrist in mid-air, Kasumi crying out at the rough force of his grip. And as Markan watched in horror, Jacob used his other hand to direct a fierce slap of his own across Kasumi's tear-streaked face. The slim human woman fell to the ground, clutching at her reddened cheek and looking up at Jacob with a shocked expression. Jacob stared down at her with cold eyes, his hands clenched into fists as if readying to strike her again.  
  
"Hey!" Markan yelled out, charging towards the three humans almost without thinking. "You get the hell away from her!"  
  
"Walk away, pal," Jacob said to him, eyes still locked on Kasumi as he spoke. "This is none of your business."  
  
Markan squared his shoulders, trying his best to sound like one of those tough turian action heroes as he said, "Well, I'm making it my business."  
  
"Come on, Jacob," said the red-headed human, still smiling despite everything that was happening around her. "Let's go back to the Normandy."  
  
"Yeah, go ahead," Markan snapped at him. "Hit a defenseless woman like that and run away. That's what cowardly pricks like you do best, isn't it?" He couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth, but he had never felt surer of himself than he did in this moment. "You're pathetic," he spat out.  
  
This finally got Jacob's attention. "In a second, Kelly," he said to the red-headed human. "Need to show this guy who he's messing with."  
  
Markan took a step back, as Jacob suddenly began glowing with biotic power. This, he hadn't considered. He was completely unarmed, standing up to a clearly unbalanced individual with biotic abilities. But still, Markan held his ground.  
  
"One more chance," Jacob said, concentrating his mental energies as he advanced toward Markan. "Walk away, and you'll get out of this in one piece."  
  
It began to occur to Markan that there was a very real chance he was about to die. On the lawless streets of Omega, fights ending in fatalities were a nightly occurrence. But up until now, Markan had played it safe, kept his head down, and managed to stay out of trouble. He always told himself that he'd never be one of those fools that would get involved in a dangerous situation like this.  
  
But looking at Kasumi on the ground, sobbing and miserable, Markan marshaled all of his courage, and stood fast. "I'm not leaving until you apologize to her," he said, pointing down at Kasumi.  
  
"You're really starting to piss me off," Jacob snarled, and Markan felt himself being lifted upward, Jacob holding him aloft with his biotics. Hand extended and brow furrowed in concentration, Jacob directed Markan's hovering body backward, until he drifted over the walkway railing and out into empty space.  
  
"Long way down," Jacob observed. "Should give you plenty of time to think about how badly you fucked up."  
  
This was it. He was going to die here. Closing his eyes, Markan took a deep breath, as he felt the crackling biotic force around him vanish, and gravity start to take its natural effect.  
  
Being a nice guy on Omega really, really su...

"No!" he heard a voice call out in the distance, and felt himself suddenly fly sideways, hitting the cold steel of the walkway hard enough to take his breath away. Opening his eyes, he saw Jacob being surrounded by Aria's guards, the human baring his teeth and flinging biotic force against them.  
  
"You assholes think you can take me on?" he snarled at them. "You don't know who you're messing with! I'm Jacob Taylor, and I'm..." his load boasts were cut off by a batarian sneaking up behind him and planting the butt of his assault rifle into Jacob's skull. Jacob crumpled to the ground, and was almost immediately hauled back up to his feet by two of Aria's men gripping his arms.  
  
"What a fucking night," said a voice nearby. Markan turned to see Aria T'Loak herself, flanked by more of her guards. Behind her, her men restrained the two human women from earlier in the evening. Jack still struggled against the guards, eyes locked on the entrance to Afterlife with a longing expression. Meanwhile, the dark-haired human from the lower level smiled as she pressed her naked flesh up against the warm bodies of her alien captors, openly playing with herself out in public as alien cum dried on her skin.  
  
"Take them all back to the Normandy docking bay," Aria instructed her men. "And leave a message for Shepard, that if any of her crew ever sets foot on Omega again, I'll send every last one of them out of an airlock the next time. I seriously don't need this shit on my station."  
  
As the group of guards escorted all of the humans back to their ship, Markan called out. "Aria!" His breath caught in his throat as the powerful queen of Omega actually turned to look at him, but he found his words in time to say, "Th... thank you for saving my life."  
  
"Me?" Aria said disdainfully. "Please." She pointed off to the side. "You can thank her for that." Turning away from Markan, she headed back into Afterlife.  
  
Markan got to his feet, looking to where Aria had indicated, and saw...  
  
"That was pretty stupid, what you did back there," Victoriana said. She was dressed in casual clothing now, but even out of the skin-baring dancer outfit she normally wore, she was still beautiful.  
  
"Yeah, guess so," Markan said. "Just couldn't stand there and let that creep mistreat that woman, though."  
  
Victoriana smirked at him. "Yeah, well, that 'creep' almost sent you flying out into space with his biotics. Good thing I managed to catch you with mine, or you'd probably still be falling right now."  
  
Glancing over the railing, Markan nodded gravely. "Guess I was lucky you were there. Thanks." Turning back to her, he suddenly blurted out. "I'm Markan, by the way."  
  
"Serrah," she said, extending a dainty hand towards him. "Nice to meet one of the few decent guys on this rock."  
  
Shaking her hand, he stared at her in confusion. "Serrah? Not Victoriana?"  
  
She laughed. "No, are you kidding? That's my stage name." As she released her grip on his hand, she cocked her head at him. "So... you've been watching me dancing?"  
  
"Yeah, you're amazing," Markan started gushing. "The best dancer in the place, by far. I come in every night just to watch you." Only when it was out of his mouth did Markan realize how creepy that sounded.  
  
But Serrah seemed pleased by his compliment. "Wow, I actually have a fan. You know, most of the women that work there, they just walk out there, shake their asses for a bit, and head back to the dressing room. I actually put some effort into my routine."  
  
"It definitely shows," Markan said.

Serrah smiled at him. "Say, you want to go somewhere? I'd suggest we go back in for a drink, but I just got off a long shift, and this is pretty much the last place I want to be right now, you know?"  
  
"Definitely," Markan said, deciding not to inform her that stepping back into Afterlife wasn't an option for him, anyway. "Let's get out of here."  
  
And as he and Serrah walked side-by-side, away from the insanity of Afterlife, Markan thought to himself that maybe being a nice guy on Omega didn't suck as much as he thought.


End file.
